To Be A Leader
by xXxJaceInWonderlandxXx
Summary: Twenty kids. Ten days. Their mission? Become leaders. But with gender wars, supposed rivalries and maybe even a little bit of romance, it's going to be anything but easy. Percabeth! (More detailed summary, reasons for rating and full list of pairings inside!)
1. My Coach Helps Me Skip School

**Title: **To Be A Leader (Alternate Universe)

**Bigger Summary: **20 kids are taken to Camp Half-Blood, where they have 10 days to learn how to become better leaders in society or in general. Each one of them already has problems that they must try to overcome during the course. (See why I didn't use this summary?)

**Genre: **Romance, Humour, Friendship, and maybe a little Hurt/Comfort.

**Rating: **T for a bit of mild swearing and some references. There's nothing too bad, though (I'm not going to drop any F-bombs or anything like that).

**Pairings: **Mainly Percabeth, with Jasper, Frazel, Leyna, and Tratie and a few tiny hints of Clarisse/Chris. There may or may not be some Thalico, depending on how it fits in.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything except for the idea. (Can anyone please tell me why we have to do a disclaimer? I honestly don't know...)

**Author's Note: **I've been toying with the idea of doing an AU multichap for a while, and then one day this came to me and I was like "I have to write this". I haven't seen any other stories like this, but if there is one I did not copy it; this idea was entirely my own. Some characters (ie: Percy, Jason) may seem OOC, but that is just because I had to tweak them in order for it to work with the plot. So now, without further ado, here's the first chapter of To Be A Leader!

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**CHAPTER 1- MY COACH HELPS ME SKIP SCHOOL**

**PERCY**

The whistle blows, and I dive into the water without a second thought, my arms propelling me forward so fast that I'm sure I looked like a blur from above. Slowing down right before I hit the wall, I pull myself out of the water and grin at the team of dumbfounded boys staring back at me. "And that is how I managed to break twenty-three school records in my sophomore year alone."

One of the younger boys in line, a shrimpy kid with a seriously bad case of acne, looks at me dubiously. "I thought you were supposed to be running tryouts for the Grade 9 swim team, not showing off."

I smirk at the boy as I grab a towel from a nearby rack. "Well, coach wasn't very specific. And I figure that since only about three of you have the upper body strength to make the team, it would be pretty pointless to teach you to do things that you'll fail at anyways. Hence the showing off."

"Hence the fact that you're yet another steyotypical jock who only cares about himself." Another boy mumbles.

I shoot him the signature Percy Jackson glare and pick up my clipboard. "Look, Michelle-"

"It's Mitchell." The boy glares back at me, but since he's only five two and is as thin as a railing, I can't take him seriously.

I wave my hand in the air dismissively. "Does it look like I care? Look, I don't want to be here. But as senior captain, it's one of the many dumb things Coach forces me to do. So why don't all of you idiots get into the water and try not to kill yourselves, cause then that means I have to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork that I really don't feel like dealing with right now.."

The pimple-face kid from before chooses now to speak back up. "Why are you so worried about paperwork? Is it because you can't write?"

There are a couple "ooohs" from the other shrimps and I roll my eyes. The kid's got guts, I'll give him that. But those guts are what's gonna get him killed pretty soon. "Just get in the water."

"No." The idiot says defiantly.

In two strides, I'm up in the kid's face. "Ok, listen up. If you don't get in the pool within the next three seconds, I'll give you a Speedo wedgie so hard you won't be able to have any kids."

To my surprise, the kid just laughs, instead of quaking in terror like I expected him to. I frown and turn back around, just in time to see my swim coach standing there, a furious expression on his face.

Damn.

"Jackson, what were you thinking?" Coach Hedge snaps, slamming a folder down on his large mahogany desk. "I asked you to run the tryouts, not torture the kids!"

"Those sound like the same thing," I say lazily, pulling a bottle of water out of the small mini-fridge to my right. "Plus, it's not like anyone went home crying!"

"This time," Coach snarls at me. "If you're going to be captain, you need to start becoming more of a leader! Stop messing around and get your head screwed on tight. The boys have been coming to me, you know. They want you demoted." He pulls a few files out of the folder and waves them in front of my face. I realize they're all complaint letters from that stupid "Issue Box" at the front of our school. And, stamped on every single one of them in bright red letters are the words _Percy Jackson._

I smirk. "Aw, you guys even have a special stamp for me!"

Coach frowns. "This is serious! I'm honestly debating whether or not to listen to all of the complaints."

I almost do a spit-take with my water. "What! You can't do that!"

"Yes I can." Coach says grimly. "What happened to the small, scared boy who came in here freshman year and astounded us all? That's the kind of person I want leading my team. Not someone who's far too cocky and sleeps around just for the fun of it- don't give me that look Jackson, even us teachers know it's true- and is just plain lazy! I don't want that for my team."

I roll my eyes. All of those things were true, but so what? I'm a teenage boy; cut me some slack. "So I suppose you're going to kick me off the team now?"

"No," Coach Hedge says, surprising me. He reaches into the folder on his desk and pulls out yet another item- a small orange pamphlet. "I'm giving you one last chance."

I take the pamphlet and read the front. It's got a picture of a winged horse- a Pegasus or something- on the front, surrounded by the words _Camp Half-Blood. _Underneath it, in smaller print it says _helping to bring out the hidden leader in your child._

I stare at Coach Hedge incredulously. "You want to send me to some stupid leadership camp?"

"Either that, or I'm demoting you." He grins at me, and I can tell he's been planning this for a while. "Take it or leave it, Jackson."

I flip through the brochure, mildly interested. There's a lake, and what looks like a large fire pit area, complete with volleyball nets and all. It looks more like a steyotypical summer camp than the hellhole it actually is. "So how long will this thing be?"

"Ten days," Coach looks happy that I'm considering it. "You'll miss one week of school."

That settles it. Missing a week of school and getting to relax by a lake all day? "I'll do it."

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**So... how was it? I've been working ****_forever _****on this chapter and I really hoped it paid off!**

**As far as reviews go, I will accept both positive reviews and CC. Flames are also allowed, but honestly, if you're going to leave a review just saying "ur story sux", then that's just sad. If you honestly do think it sucks, please tell me why (ie: Your story sucks because the plot is really unoriginal and all of your characters are OOC). To which I will reply "Thanks for telling me that- I'll try and make my characters less OOC in future chapters". I'm not going to go on some huge rampage over a couple bad reviews, cause I'm not generally like that :).**

**Anyways, I think I've drawn this A/N out long enough, so... review please!**

**-Jace ;)**


	2. A Teacher Bribes Me

**Oh My Gods! Thank you so much for the 3 favourites, 2 reviews and 4 follows! I'll admit, I wasn't sure if anyone was going to like the story, and when I saw the first review... I literally started screaming. So thank-you all so much! Now, onto the chapter!**

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CHAPTER 2- A TEACHER BRIBES ME

ANNABETH

"Alright, so we'll take a small two minute break and then start again," I instruct, pushing my goggles up onto my forehead and wiping the sweat from my brow. "We've only got two weeks left so we need to work fast."

My group nods, walking away from our project and over to the water station, where they all sit down thankfully. It's shop class, and right now we're in the midst of constructing the generic house project, only I've decided to make it a bit less generic than usual.

"Um, Annabeth?" Juniper, a shy girl who's been placed in my group, taps on my arm hesitantly. "I was just wondering if we really needed all of those extra support beams. The structure looks pretty sturdy already."

I frown at the main frame of the house, of which I can see several flaws. "It looks sturdy, but it still needs the extra strength. You can go and add in some corner pieces now." I give her a gentle push towards the project, and she frowns and gets back to work. Maybe I'm being a little over-the-top with this, but the project has to be perfect.

"Annabeth?" Michael, a kid that I would never have worked with unless I was forced to (which I was) frowns at me. "Do we really need the furniture all to be made out of wood? Why can't we do cardboard furniture like everyone else?"

I roll my eyes. "For the fifth time today. The furniture is made out of wood because it looks more professional. Now go cut another sofa!"

Michael walks off, muttering something that sounds like "bossy" under his breath. Sighing, I turn back to the blueprint at hand and begin sketching out more furniture for the inside, just as the bell rings.

"Alright!" Mr. Blofis, the shop teacher, pulls the lever to turn the power off of all of the machines, and suddenly the room feels a lot quieter. "You are all free to go, but Miss Chase, may I have a word?" His voice booms around the high-ceilinged class, making it sound far more ominous than it actually is.

Every eye in the room turns to face me as I nod silently, gulping in apprehension. Mr. Blofis is normally a really easygoing teacher, so if he calls you to stay after class that means you must have done something really wrong.

The second the last student leaves, Mr. Blofis turns to face me, hands in his pockets. "I couldn't help but notice your unique way of leading your team."

I open my mouth to speak, but he continues to talk. "It seems to me that you don't realize that in trying to be a leader, you end up being quite bossy instead."

My mouth closes with a snap. "I try to be a leader…" I manage to get out.

"But yet you don't know when to sit back and let others lead for once," Mr. Blofis stares at me seriously. "Miss Chase, you are an exceptional architect and your designs never fail to astound me. I am not trying to be hard on you by saying this, I just want to prepare you for the real world. In the workforce, there aren't going to be a lot of opportunities to work by yourself. You are going to have to work with a lot of people that you may not necessarily enjoy, yet you will have to give them all a chance."

I nod mutely. I had always thought of myself as a good leader, and now one of my favourite teachers was telling me I was just being overly bossy the whole time. Pressing my lips tightly together, I restrain myself from screaming as Mr. Blofis begins to speak again.

"As well…" Mr. Blofis continues, and my heart sinks even further. There was more? "I know that you're going to want to fix this problem, so in order to help you achieve that, I got this."

He pulls a bright orange pamphlet from his briefcase and places it on the table in front of me. I read the front of it aloud. "_Camp Half-Blood_. What's that?"

"It's a leadership camp, out by Long Island. You get to miss a week of school." Mr. Blofis says this as if he expects me to be happy about it.

"A week?" I stare at him incredulously. "You expect me to miss all of my classes for a whole week just so I can go and make clay necklaces at some camp? What about tests? Or lessons? Or the project?"

"Annabeth, I've already talked to your teachers and they're fine with this," Seeing my unimpressed face, Mr. Blofis sighs and continues, "Tell you what- I'll make you a deal. You go to this camp, learn how to be a leader, and when you come back then I'll let you lead a workshop at the YAA convention next month."

I gape at him. "Are you serious?" YAA is short for the Young Architects Association, which is a group that throws these amazing conventions all over the United States. Mr. Blofis has been talking all month about how he just got selected to lead one, and now that he wants me onboard… it's an opportunity I just can't afford to pass up.

"Just ten days, Miss Chase." Mr. Blofis holds up the brochure. "Ten days at Camp Half-Blood, and then I'll let you lead a workshop. It's your call."

I take the brochure in my hands, flipping through it slowly. "I'll do it."

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**Yeah, I know, it was a lot like the last chapter. I just wanted to show Annabeth's reasons for coming to Camp Half-Blood (it'll come into play later in the story). I tried to keep Annabeth IC during this one, but I'm not sure if I succeeded, so if you could review and tell me that would be great!**

**Please Review!**

**- Jace ;)**


	3. An Extremely Hot Girl Lands On My Lap

**Oh My Gods. 7 follows, 192 views, 4 favourites, and 4 reviews! You guys are seriously epic! Thank you so much!**

**Anyways, onto the chapter!**

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CHAPTER 3- AN EXTREMLY HOT GIRL LANDS ON MY LAP

PERCY

I lug my suitcase out of the back of the car, waving good-bye to my stepfather Paul as he drives off. It's 6 am, and I'm dead tired, but I figure I'll just crash on the bus. Why they wanted us here so early, I'll never know.

Glancing around the bus station where we were all told to meet, I can see that it's practically deserted except for an old lady sitting on a nearby bench. Paul, being a teacher, made me come half an hour before we were actually supposed to arrive in case they left early, but now I can see that won't be the case. I lean back on my suitcase and am just falling asleep when someone taps hesitantly on my shoulder, jerking me upright.

A guy stands in front of me, looking sheepish. He's got a large tattoo of a whole bunch of eyeballs on his arm, which I find pretty creepy, and the largest blue eyes I've ever seen. Maybe he's an optometrist, or maybe he's just plain weird. Either way, he's gesturing to the small school bus parked in front of us, obviously wanting me to follow him. Picking up my suitcase sleepily, I do as he wishes, looking at his tattoos warily. He doesn't seem to be able to talk.

I climb onto the bus, which smells strangely like strawberries, and a second later the tattoo guy follows, dragging another kid on with him. It's a guy, with blonde hair and a purple t-shirt. He looks dead tired as well, and practically crashes in the seat beside me before letting out a huge yawn. "Dude, any clue why they wanted us here so early?"

Since tattoo guy is seemingly mute, I figure he must be talking to me. "I dunno, maybe so that we can get the most out of this 'fun leadership experience'".

Purple t-shirt guy grins. "You didn't want to be stuck here either? I'm just doing this because I need extra credit for school."

"I'm getting demoted from captain of the swim team if I don't," I roll my eyes. "I'm Percy, by the way."

"Jason." We shake hands quickly.

Other kids began trickling onto the bus, most of them looking as groggy as I feel. Jason wolf-whistles loudly as a girl enters, choppy brown hair braided loosely to one side. She gives him a withering glare and sits at the back, far away from us. Jason, looking seemingly unperturbed, turns back to me and grins. "Man, was she hot! I'm so getting her number the second we get to this place."

I glance again at the girl. "She's not really my type. Actually, she reminds me a bit of Katniss…"

Jason stares at me. "You mean the movie with Jennifer Laurence in it? She's hot too, isn't she?"

I'm about to launch into a discussion with Jason about the extensive world known as female movie stars, but just then a new girl enters the bus. She's panting, probably having ran here, bending over to catch her breath in a way that gives me a very nice view of her butt. At once, all of the other girls seem to fade as I stare at this blonde beauty, unaware of the fact that there's a trail of drool dripping out of my mouth.

The bus starts suddenly, jerking me out of my fantasy. Blondie begins to walk down the aisle between the seats, searching for an empty spot. I'm tempted to push Jason out of his seat, but I hold back and instead think of what I'm going to say when the girl passes by our spot.

She's reached us now, and I hold out my arm without thinking. The blonde girl looks at me, annoyance flashing across her face. "Excuse me."

And of course, that's when eyeball guy decides to make a sharp turn, flinging the girl into my lap. Not that I'm complaining, of course.

The girl begins to get up, a red blush flaring across her cheeks. "What was that for?"

"I'm pretty sure that it was a bus turning." I answer cockily, grinning as the look of disgust on the girl's face grows.

"I meant you sticking out your arm, dumbo." She retorts, and I panic briefly, trying to remember my reasons for stopping this blonde beauty.

"I… um… I just wanted to introduce myself." I say somewhat awkwardly, extending my arm in greeting. "I'm Percy. Percy Jackson." I roll my eyes mentally at how James-Bond-esque that sounds, but paste a fake smile on my face nonetheless.

She eyes my hand as if it was a dead slug. "I'm Annabeth, and before you follow up with some kind of cheesy pick-up line, let me say I'm not interested."

I eye Annabeth with a newfound interest. "So you're a feisty one, eh?"

"And you're a player, eh?"

I frown momentarily, not sure how I should play this. She's not bowing at my feet like she should be, which must mean she's not interested. Either that or she's obviously smitten with me and just isn't sure how to show it. I decide the second one's more reasonable.

"You realize you're drooling, right?" Annabeth cuts through my train of thought.

I glare at her. "Yeah, I did. It's this problem I have… I drool when I sleep as well." Behind me, Jason facepalms at my awkwardness.

Annabeth frowns, obviously a little weirded out. "Ok… I'll keep that in mind."

She turns away and begins walking down the aisle yet again when I call out to her. "Hey, what'd you even do to get sent to this place?"

Annabeth's face immediately turns into an icy sneer. "That is none of your business." She sits down next to the Katniss lookalike Jason was fawning over earlier and promptly buries her nose in a book.

Jason, whose head has been squished up against the window this whole time, grins at me. "Real smooth."

"Shut up." I mumble.

"But seriously, dude." Jason turns towards me. "What are the odds? Two hot girls, one for each of us, going to the same camp as us? This has gotta be fate."

I'm staring at Annabeth again, watching as her expression changes as she gets more and more engrossed in her book. "Yeah…" I say softly, not really paying attention. "Fate…"

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**This has to be my favourite chapter so far. Percy's awkwardness and the drool part... teehee! Anyways, hoped you guys enjoyed and as always, please review!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: For any Americans out there, can someone please tell me what standardized testing is? I keep on seeing it all over FF but I have no clue what it is... thanks!**


	4. I Make An Actual Friend

**So before I start this chapter, let me tell you all a little story.**

**There once was a girl named Jacelyn, who posted Chapter 3 of her fanfiction and went to the mall with her friends shortly afterwards, admittedly a bit dejected about the amount of reviews she had got. Upon returning from the mall, she was dancing around the room, singing along to Taylor Swift songs and thinking about how much they described her pathetic love life at the moment, when she went 'hey, let me see if anyone's reviewed yet'. So she logs on to her email, still singing, and then stops dead when the page loads. And the Taylor Swift song begins to come out in choked gasps as the girl dances around the room screaming as tears stream down her face and she begins texting every single one of her friends about what just had happened. **

**You guys (and girls) are freaking amazing! 12 REVIEWS for one chapter! That's three times the amount I got for the last two chapters combined! All of you have honestly no clue how much this meant to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!**

**But, honestly, you all aren't here to read about my pathetic celebration. You're all here to read the chapter! So, without further ado, Chapter 4!**

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CHAPTER 4: I MAKE AN ACTUAL FRIEND

ANNABETH

Allow me to make a list of all of the things that have gone wrong today.

First, I wake up late because my stupid alarm clock broke again, and almost miss the bus to Camp Half-Blood. Then, once I finish running to the bus stop (because Sue refuses to drive me anywhere), some random guy starts checking me out. Said random guy then makes me fall onto his lap, and then proceeds to introduce himself and tells me that he drools in his sleep.

And it's only 6 _freaking_ am.

Percy was cute, I suppose, but it was just his attitude that bugged me. I was pretty good at reading people, and from the look he was giving me, combined with the fact that I caught him staring at my butt when I first entered, I could pretty much figure out he was a player. A conceited, arrogant player.

Pulling out a book, I flop down into an empty seat near the back, completely ignoring the person behind me. I'm not much of a people person- introducing myself to Percy was pretty much the most talking I'm planning on doing today. That is, if I want to maintain my plan to remain inconspicuous.

You see, the whole reason I got sent to this place was because I was too bossy. So if I don't boss anyone for the whole week, I'll go home and get to lead a workshop. And to not boss anyone, I have to become shy and insignificant one of those hopeless cases the instructors will start ignoring in a couple of days and eventually not bother with at all. I already messed up my plan by talking to Percy, so they'll have to be no more slip-ups if I want to make it through the week without any trouble.

I read for a bit, completely immersed in the text when the girl sitting next to me lets out a groan. I jump, and she smiles sheepishly, frowning down at the screen of her phone. "Sorry 'bout that. Stupid assistant still isn't letting me come back home."

I want to try and ignore this girl, I really do, but something she says piques my interest. "Assistant?"

She frowns at her phone, fingers flying over the keyboard. "Yeah. She convinced Dad that I was some kind of juvenile delinquent. Honestly! You borrow one car and all of the sudden you're the bad guy."

"You stole a car?" I suddenly feel cold. I've met kids like her before- they're all into drugs and alcohol.

"Borrowed!" The girl throws her hands up in the air. "I just wanted to test it out! Why don't people get that?"

I'm about to get up and leave- this girl is seriously starting to scare me- when there's a shout from the front of the bus. A girl who looks uncannily like a Barbie doll is holding a pigtailed girl's lunchbox over her head, laughing as the girl tries to grab for it. The tattoo guy at the front of the bus is signalling for them to stop, but seeing as he's mute and driving, there's not a lot he can do.

The girl beside me sighs. "Not again." Pulling herself to her feet, she strides to the front of the bus and begins shouting at the older girl, who gives her a sickly sweet smile in return. The girl with the pigtails cowers behind a seat as the older two begin shouting at each other and eyeball guy starts gesturing more frantically. Finally, with a huff, Barbie sits back down and the girl makes her way back over to me, her cheeks flushed from yelling.

"What was that all about?" I ask, amazed.

The girl rolls her eyes. "Those were my two half-sisters. Drew's eighteen- she's the one with the startling resemblance to a clown- and Lacy's thirteen. Mom's sponsoring the whole camp, so that's why they got to tag along."

Suddenly, this girl doesn't seem so intimidating. "Do you have to do that often?"

"Whenever I see them," The girl sighs. "Which isn't very often, thank Gods. Name's Piper, by the way. You?"

I figure I've completely broken my promise to stay quiet on the bus, so one more introduction wouldn't hurt. "I'm Annabeth."

"Pretty name," Piper remarks, leaning back in her chair. "So what was going on with you and Mr. I-think-I'm-so-cool up there?"

I snort. "You mean Percy? He just wanted to introduce himself and ask me out- preferably all in one sentence."

"Yeah, I figured as much," Piper grabs a packet of gum out of her pocket. "You want?"

I take a piece thankfully, popping it into my mouth. I didn't have time for breakfast this morning, so right now it feels like my stomach's on a roller coaster. "Thanks."

"No problem." Piper grins back at me, and I feel like I may have finally made a friend.

But wait. That would mean going against my plan, which may lead to me not getting to lead a workshop. And that's the whole point of me attending this stupid camp in the first place. But Piper seems like a really nice person, despite the whole car 'borrowing' thing, and besides, how much trouble can I get into for having one friend? Tentatively, I smile back at her.

Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

All of the sudden, the bus comes to a screeching halt and kids begin to stand, stretching as they gather up all of their belongings. As I pick up my book and shove it in my backpack, I feel someone's eyes watching me. Turning around, I see Percy giving me a look that makes him look like he's having an eye spasm, but I can tell from past experience (don't ask- there was this really strange guy in my English class last year) that he's just winking. Rolling my eyes, I brush past him and out into the open.

Oh, who am I kidding. These ten days are going to suck.

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**So... yeah. A little bit of a filler, but I didn't want it to be all Percabeth, you know? Plus, I always thought that Annabeth and Piper had such a good relationship in the books, and I really wanted to bring it into this fic. Plus, Drew and Lacy made an appearance! You'll meet more CHB campers next chapter...**

**Once again, thank you so much for all of the reviews! Here, take one of the cookies I baked yesterday as your reward!**

**If you could review this chapter again, that would be great!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: Thanks so much for all the answers to what standardized testing is! We don't have it in Canada... **

**PPS: Another question, just for fun: What song do you think describes Percabeth the best? **


	5. I Get Beat Up By A Girl

**Sorry everyone! I've been really busy and admittedly had a bit of writers block for this chapter. But hey, I'm here now and ready to post another chapter for you all!**

**Anyways, I realized that I've been a very bad author because I haven't thanked a single person for their review. So, lots of thanks to OlympusGrl, kim3375, allen r, Midnight Boredom, MunicoNinja11, SuzieDaughterOfHermes, PercyJackson is SeaweedBrain, Miss Semi-Dependent, MissAwesome123, Jazzanimez, Shandia99, KayCee, greekgeek25, xxShafferxx, Flashback From the Future, and Qwerty616120. Man, where do you people come up with these usernames?**

**Also, I'd like to thank ZoeChase for being my totally unofficial beta for this story!**

**Now, onto the chapter...**

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CHAPTER 5- I GET BEAT UP BY A GIRL

PERCY

The first thing I see as I step out of the bus and into Camp Miserable is the giant horse.

Well, not really a horse. It's more like a giant plastic centaur, rearing up on his hind legs right in front of a giant wooden sign reading _Camp Half-Blood. _In front of the sign are two men, one lazily chugging a Coke and the other beckoning campers towards him from his spot in a wheelchair. I pick up my bag from the pile that eyeball guy is unloading and walk over to the rest of the kids. There's twenty or so of us in total- ten girls and ten boys, all ranging from thirteen or so to eighteen.

"Welcome!" Wheelchair dude spreads his arms wide. "To another fun session at Camp Half-Blood!"

All twenty kids stare at him blankly, none of us seeing what could be so fun about this. The man places his arms down and continues speaking. "My name is Mr. Brunner, but you may all call me Chiron. And this right here"- he gestures to the man drinking Coke, who lets out a belch- "is Mr. D. We both are here to make you into the best leaders you can possibly be!"

Okay, this guy is way too cheerful for someone who works with children all day. Chiron goes onto explain about schedules and how the week is going to be laid out, but I'm barely listening. Instead, I'm scanning the Camp, checking out the rock climbing wall and the beach. It's a nice place, but my vision is a bit tainted by the fact that I'm here to learn how to become a leader, not to relax and stare at girls in bikinis. Of course, that doesn't mean I can't do both. In fact… why do I even need to attend any of the leadership things? I cut classes all the time back home. Here should be no different.

"And finally…" Chiron frowns at me, and I realize I've been staring off into space for the whole time he was talking. "May I remind everyone that even though we wish that you have fun, your main purpose here is to become a leader. Therefore, we will be monitoring everyone throughout the week and reporting the results back to the teacher that originally volunteered you."

Well, there goes that brilliant idea.

"Now, for the cabins!" Chiron gestures to behind us, where two large wooden structures stand. "Boys on the left, girls on the right. You'll have an hour to unpack and get to know one another. Think of it as, ah, a friendly bonding session."

I stare at him in disbelief. Bonding session? No way. Still, I follow the rest of the boys into the left cabin, rolling my eyes at the cheesy décor as I do. There's the usual scuffle for beds, and then finally everyone's silent, glancing at each other as if they're not sure what to do next.

Finally, a boy with reddish-brown curls speaks up. "Raise your hand if you actually want to be here."

A faint chuckle rings around the room as no one puts their hand up. That seems to break the ice a little bit, and more people begin to speak up. I stay silent however, leaning back on my bunk until-

"Hey," A guy with a seriously bad case of acne and a wispy beard sits down next to me. "What's up?"

I just stare at him. I had been setting off a pretty good don't-talk-or-suffer vibe for the past ten minutes, and now here this scrawny boy was, completely disregarding it.

"I get it if you don't want to talk," The boy continues, stretching his legs out in front of him. I realize with a shock that he has two metal braces wrapped around them. "I'm guessing that you don't want to be here. Don't worry- I didn't either, the first time."

"The_ first_-"

"Shhhhh!" The boy looks around nervously. "Chiron sometimes sends campers back if he feels they haven't improved enough. I don't want everybody knowing I'm a total failure. I'm Grover, by the way."

"I'm Percy." Grover nods, holding out his hand, which I hesitantly take. He seems pretty cool, even if I'd never be caught dead talking to someone like him if we weren't stuck at this stupid place.

Grover glances around the room somewhat nervously. "There's a lot of kids here, don't you think?"

I follow his gaze. The boy that started the whole conversation is chatting with another boy that vaguely resembles him and what appears to be a Latino Santa's elf. Over by the window, Jason's talking with a goth looking kid. There's a few other scattered around- reading, drawing, and one unpacking a collection of stuffed animals, which I find pretty weird. "Yeah, I guess."

Grover nods, just as a conch horn begins to sound around camp. I bounce off the bed, then give Grover, who's having trouble with his crutches, a hand. We make our way outside together, followed by the rest of the cabin.

Jason jogs up to us. "Hey dude, who's this?"

I introduce Grover to him, and vice versa, then glance to my left, where Annabeth is exiting her cabin, talking with the girl Jason was staring at earlier. "Hey guys, I gotta do… something. Meet you in there."

Without waiting to hear their response, I make my way over towards Annabeth, smirking as I do. She looks up begins to speed up, pulling the brunette beside her along as she goes. I match her pace evenly, gaining on her when-

_Wham!_

I stagger backwards, rubbing my head as a person looms over me. It looks vaguely like a girl, with stringy dirt-coloured hair and beady eyes. She's holding out her arm, which is evidently the rock-hard object I just ran into. "Whaddya looking at, punk?" She sneers, laughing as she grabs me by my shirt.

Behind me, I can feel people staring in shock at the scene unfolding in front of us. No one steps forward to help, not that I had expected them to in the first place.

The girl- if you could even call her that- drags me towards the washrooms and I begin to revolt, pushing my heels into the dirt. If only the kids at school could see me now- Percy Jackson, hottest guy around, getting a swirlie from a girl. She's strong, though, so with a final push I'm in the girls washroom. I look around, revolted.

Now, don't get me wrong- I've been in plenty of girls washrooms before. It's a surprisingly good place for a makeout session, and the stuff you learn by hiding in a 'Out of Order' stall- man, girls gossip a lot! But this was different from any washroom I had ever been in before.

The tiles on the floor were grimy and waterlogged. None of the stalls had locks, and the toilets- let's just say I was close to screaming like a little kid. The girl drags me to the one at the end, the most disgusting, revolting one, naturally.

Setting me down on the floor, which was covered in something I really hope was water, the girl cracks her knuckles in anticipation. "I can tell you think you're all that," She sneered, shoving me back into the side of the stall. "Well, let me tell you…"

She continues to talk, but I've begun to focus my attention on a pipe behind me. It's loose, dripping water onto the floor. If I could just loosen it... I casually begin to check my pockets, searching for the object my mom had placed in it earlier, right as I was leaving. Finally, a ballpoint pen emerges, and I place it behind my back carefully, wiggling it around in an attempt to loosen the screw. It's rusted over a bit, making it more difficult than it should. I need to buy myself some time.

"What's your name?" I ask, interrupting her rampage.

She glares down at me. "Clarisse. No use telling me who you are, Prissy. Annabeth was going on and on about you earlier."

My heart skips a beat. "What did she say?" _Please something along the lines of "he's so hot that I want to marry him!"._

Clarisse shrugs. "Something about you being an arrogant jerk who drools in his sleep. Oh, and she kept on mentioning that you have eyes like a baby seal."

Well, there goes the last sliver of my remaining dignity. "She didn't say anything about wanting to date me?" Behind me, my fingers fly faster. Just one more twist…

Clarisse grunts. "What's with all the stupid questions, punk? I'm tired of this." She reaches for me, just as I give the pen one last turn and the pipes all around us begin to shake. I duck behind the toilet, gagging at the stench, as the first pipe bursts, showering Clarisse with filthy water. She gags and splutters as another pipe explodes, hitting her in the side. This continues for a couple minutes, until I finally come to my senses and race out the door, laughing my head off. The rest of the campers are standing there in awe as Clarisse, sopping wet, shoves her lumpy body out the door and turns to face me, meaty hands balled up into large fists.

"You're dead, Prissy." She snarls at me, stalking back to her cabin, just as the last pipe explodes in the washroom. Laughter begins to sound around the crowd, and people begin to look at me with an expression I'm very familiar with- awe.

Grinning, I make my way towards the dining hall, everyone else trailing behind me.

Things are finally starting to look up.

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**Okay, I'll admit, I had so much fun writing the end. The toilet scene is one of my favourites in TLT, so mortal-izing it was really awesome. Plus, I love the baby seal reference =). And yeah, this is kind of an oversized filler chapter. There will be Percabeth in the next chapter though, I promise! And the chapter after that... let's just say I have some really cool stuff planned.**

**Quick question- do you guys want mostly Percabeth or some other couples too? Cause I've got ideas for Tratie and Jasper subplots, but I want to see what you guys think first... **

**As always, thanks for all of your awesome reviews! They really brighten up my day!**

**Review please!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: Longest chapter yet! Yay!**


	6. Percy Slays The Minotaur (not really)

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait, school has been absolutely insane lately and I've had no time to write. I can't believe some of you are on summer vacation already! I still have a month left... and after that, I'll be updating a lot more, don't worry!**

**Thanks so much for getting me up to 40 reviews for only five chapters! That is absolutely insane! Mega-huge thanks to SuzieDaughterOfHermes, Munico Ninja, OlympusGrl, ZoeChase, kinabooextraordinaire, kim3375, allen r, PercyJackson is SeaweedBrain, MidnightBoredom, Jazzanimez, Qwerty616120, Shandia99, and Achieving Elysium. You guys all rock!**

**Just to clear something up- they are mortals in this story, and there are no gods whatsoever. **

**Now, onto what you all came here to read... the chapter!**

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CHAPTER 6- PERCY SLAYS THE MINOTAUR (not really)

ANNABETH

I stab at the meat on my plate angrily, barely caring when it sends peas skittering across the table. "That annoying, arrogant jerk!"

Piper looks up from her salad, an amused smile dancing across her face. "Gods, Annabeth, he's just happy. Calm down."

I roll my eyes, looking across the dining pavilion to where Percy's standing on top of a table of admiring boys, recounting just exactly how he managed to douse the camp's worst bully in toilet water with just a pen and some (nonexistent) brains. "There's happy, and then there's gloating. The way he's telling it, he may as well have slain the Minotaur!"

"Why does it even bother you?" Katie Gardener, another girl from my cabin, asks curiously. "As far as I'm concerned, Clarisse got what was coming to her." She fingers her newly cut blonde braid, courtesy of Clarisse, as she talks.

"Agreed." Thalia, a punk-rock chick with spiky black hair, says as she narrows heavily lidded eyes. "Of course, we all know that I could have taken care of her." She tosses one of those small prank shockers up in the air, reminding us all of what happened earlier today in the cabin when Clarisse cut in front of her in the bathroom line.

I'm about to speak up again when Percy catches my eye from across the room and winks, pointing to me, then to himself, and finally making some very suggestive gestures. I mouth the words _Go To Hell _back at him and duck my head back down to my plate, cheeks blazing.

Piper, who's been watching this whole exchange, grins impishly at me. "Looks like someone has a cruuush…" She singsongs, gesturing in Percy's direction.

"You kidding? He just likes annoying me, most likely." I try to appear nonchalant, but from the smirks on the other girls faces and the blush that's still colouring my cheeks, it's obvious that they don't believe me.

Thalia opens her mouth to say something, but just then Chiron wheels himself into the middle of the room and everyone falls silent. "Campers!" He booms, his voice echoing around the pavilion. "Since most of you seem to be finished eating, allow us to make out way to the firepit!"

The room breaks out into chatter once again as people begin exiting the picnic benches we ate at, moving in little packs. For a bunch of non-leaders, there's actually not a ton of quiet people. Mostly it's just pranksters and people too bored to actually lead anyone else. Which means my plan to be the silent chameleon is going to make me stand out more than ever. I amend my previous statement- I'll talk, but I won't lead.

"Annabeth!" Thalia calls out, and I realize with a shock that I'd been so lost in my thoughts that I'd been standing there while the rest of them already left the pavilion.

"Coming!" I call out, racing out of the pavilion and to the campfire. Upon arriving there, however, I stop short. There's a couple logs scattered around, and the only empty spot happens to be right next to none other than Percy Jackson himself. He smirks, patting the log as if he planned this whole thing out.

Cursing under my breath, I stomp over and sit down next to him, scooting down the log until there's as much space in between us as there possibly can. Thalia catches my eye across the campfire and mouths "sorry", and only then do I realize that we're all sitting boy-girl-boy-girl.

The other man who greeted us- if you could call belching and chugging Coke greeting us- this morning steps in front of the fire, and instantly everyone falls silent. "Alright, listen up brats. Don't burn any important body limbs, don't pass out from smoke inhalation, and don't burst your eardrums from the off-key singing that's sure to come." I roll my eyes. How did this guy end up at a leadership camp in the first place?

As the singing begins, just as tuneless as predicted, Percy leans over and oh-so-subtly tries to put his arm around my shoulders. I smack him, whirling around on the log. "Ok, what is your problem?"

He raises his hands in the air in defense. "Hey, can't a guy just stretch without someone trying to bite their head off?"

"That wasn't a stretch!" I splutter indignantly. "That was you trying to invade my personal space!"

"Invade your personal space?" Percy raises an eyebrow. "Do you always sound this snobby?"

"How was that sounding snobby?" I press my fingers to my temples. "Ok, you know what, I'm not even going to argue anymore."

"That's cause you know I'm right…" Percy singsongs, and I pointedly turn away from him, joining into everyone else's round of Row, Row, Row Your Boat . He slumps back, seemingly defeated, and I allow my voice to grow louder, carrying over the din. That is, until I feel warm breath on the back of my neck.

"You have a really pretty voice, you know." He whispers.

I roll my eyes. "Complimenting me isn't going to help."

"Right, so if I were to tell you that you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life that wouldn't help my case?"

In spite of myself, I can feel a red-hot blush starting to bloom on my cheeks. "Shut up."

"Ha! I got a reaction!" He crows, obviously very pleased with himself.

"No… I'm just… hot…" I stutter, trying to think of a decent excuse.

"Yeah, you are." Percy smirks, eyeing me up and down.

I whack him on the arm. "That's not what I meant, you moron! And even if it was, I wouldn't ever be so self-conceited as to call myself that, unlike some people…" I glare pointedly at him.

"Oh, come on," Percy grins at me. "Stop acting like you don't like me! It's totally obvious that you do."

Ok, that does it. I stand up, my cheeks still flushed from before. "Let me make one thing very clear. I will never, ever have a crush on you for as long as I live." There's an awkward pause, and I realize that everyone else has fallen silent and is gaping at us.

Cursing under my breath, I dart off to the cabins, Percy's laughter echoing behind me the whole time.

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**So... there you go! I added in a bit of Percabeth fluff at the end, so I hope everyone liked it! **

**Honestly, I can't wait for the next chapter. I've written a bit of it so far and I love how it is going, so be on the lookout for that! As well, since pretty much everyone wanted Jasper and Tratie, those will be coming shortly!**

**Thanks again for all the reviews! You guys rock!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: You don't have to read this if you don't want, cause it isn't related to the story at all, but Oh My Gods I got my graduation dress and I absolutely adore it! And I got these grey heels that remind me so much of something Annabeth would wear... I fangirled for a half hour after that at the thought of a Percabeth graduation. Yeah, I'm insane. And this was incredibly pointless, but I felt the need to tell someone about my dress because I am in love with it.**

**PPS: The next update may take a bit, because I'm finally performing my school play this week (Alice In Wonderland), and as the titular character, I have to be at the theater a ton. So... sorry!**


	7. I Destroy an Island

**Woah... how long has it been? Almost 3 weeks? Sorry everyone, but I only have a week and a half left of school so all of my final projects are due right now, which sucks. But once school ends, I promise I'll be updating a lot quicker!**

**Thanks to all of the epical reviewers from the last chapter: Jazzanimez, MidnightBoredom, kim3375, 1908, MissSemi-Dependent, cupcakegirl282, and Qwerty616120. Also a huge shoutout to all of the people who followed the story last time, because for some reason there was a ton of you all at once. So... thanks!**

**Also, to answer kim3375's question, no, I do not have a date for Grad. The guy I like is going with someone else, so... :(**

**Now, enough of my babbling, and onto the chapter! Enjoy!**

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CHAPTER 7- I DESTROY AN ISLAND

PERCY

I was the first one up the next morning.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love sleep as much as any other teenager, but there's something about hearing birds chirping really loudly right outside my window that makes catching a few more hours of shut-eye pretty much impossible.

Sometimes I really hate nature.

Around me, I can hear the various snores of teenage boys, and I briefly consider pranking one of them, but then decide against it. Connor and Travis, two of the boys I met yesterday, pretty much have that covered. Besides, I haven't made enemies with anyone here. Yet.

I stare up at the wooden bunk above me, noting the many names carved into the rough surface. To my utter disbelief, the names are adorned with smiles and little drawings that do not depict the same scenes usually drawn in the boys bathroom at school. From what I can see in the dim light, there's a few stick people sitting in a canoe, a sketch of a campfire, and what looks like the lake. It looks like these people, whoever they are, were actually happy to be here. Which is pretty much insane, because who would ever like this place?

Admittedly, the place itself is a little cool, with the beach and the firepit and all. But the people in it… that's a force to be reckoned with. Even Annabeth. _Especially _Annabeth.

Annabeth… the name itself makes me grin like an idiot and want to punch a wall at the same time. She's so hot, but at the same time so annoying, with her stupid I-hate-you-for-no-reason-at-all act. Because let's face it- we all know it's an act. But she's too stubborn to admit otherwise, so right now we're stuck in a strange kind of limbo, when one second she's laughing with me and the next she's saying I'm the biggest idiot in the world. Well, two can play this game. I make up my mind right then and there that I'll ignore her for the rest of the day and see how well she likes it. I know, it's a childish move, but what can I say? I'm not mature in any way, shape or form.

There's a knock at the door, and then Beckendorf, one of the boys counselors, strides into the room, pulling open the blinds in one fluid motion. The room suddenly fills with groans as boys begin to pull pillows back over their heads, blocking out the harsh sunlight filling the cabin. For once, I'm glad to be up early.

Seeing that the boys are all still half asleep, Beckendorf sighs, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out what seems to be an air horn. The sharp sound fills the air as he honks it once, smiling as everyone begins to groggily rise.

"Chiron wants you all down at the beach," Beckendorf says, slipping the air horn back into his pocket. "It's time for your first lesson."

At the word _lesson_, half of the boys immediately bury back underneath their comforters, and the groans return. Beckendorf sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he's regretting what he's about to say next.

"It's in the lake," He prompts, "With the girls."

I've never seen people shoot out of bed that fast.

A fleeting image of Annabeth shoots into my mind, but I quickly dismiss that thought. No matter that I'm going to be in the water… where I can show off… and she's going to be in a bikini… no. I promised I'd ignore her today.

I stand up and join the masses over by the suitcases we haphazardly shoved to the side last night. After digging out my swimsuit from a pile of clothes, I hurriedly get dressed, almost knocking Grover over in my rush to get outside.

"Slow down, dude," Jason laughs as I run a hand through my ever-messy hair. "Girls take forever to get dressed. I'll bet you Annabeth won't be down here for another ten minutes."

Upon reaching the beach, I realize, in fact, that Jason is right. We're the first ones here by far. I plop down in the cool sand, utterly bored as I wait for everyone else to show up.

Within minutes, all of the boys are on the beach, but there's still no sign of the girls. Just as I'm contemplating knocking on their cabin door to tell them to hurry up, I spot some figures out in the middle of the lake, lounging on what looks like a small dock.

"What's that?" Grover, who's plopped down beside me, asks as he squints out at the lake.

As if on cue, the small dock starts coming closer, revealing the towline attaching it to a boat behind it. It bumps up against the shore, and I realize with a shock that almost every single girl is already on it. Chiron and Mr. D sit in the boat, and Chiron grins at us as they pull up.

"Ah, boys, you made it!" He smiles, patting the side of the boat. "Hurry up and hop in, will you?"

All of the guys, completely dumbfounded, take our seats on the dock with the girls. "How'd they manage to get here so fast?" Jason mutters to me.

Annabeth's friend- Piper, I think- glances over at us. "Well, we actually manage to wake up in the mornings, unlike some people."

The rest of the girls snicker, and Jason's face flushes. I take his momentary embarrassment as an excuse to look around the rest of the raft, noting how Annabeth's dressed in a not all that revealing bikini that accentuates her curves.

By now, we're back out in the middle of the lake and Chiron cuts the motor of the boat suddenly, filling the air with an eerie silence. Mr. D, looking bored out of his mind, pulls the towline free of the dock, leaving us floating free.

"Alright campers, listen up!" Chiron bellows, and we all turn to face him. "This is your first challenge to see how well you work as a team. In a second, we will place a foam mattress the exact same size as the dock down. Your task is to flip it over without anyone stepping off of it or falling into the water. Try to think of it as an island that you all have to stay onto to survive. If you place too much weight on one side, the whole dock will tip and everyone will fall in. You have half an hour. Good luck."

With that, the mattress is laid down and the boat speeds off, rocking the dock back and forth as it goes.

As soon as Mr. D and Chiron are out of sight, I lay down on the now-cushioned dock, placing my arms behind my head and tilting my head upwards in a futile attempt to tan. I haven't been lying down for even a few seconds before Annabeth steps in front of me, hands on hips.

"Could you move?" I ask lazily. "You're blocking my sun."

Her cheeks flush. "We only have half an hour to do this and you're lying here, sun tanning! Could you at least try to be a little productive?"

I glare at her. "Listen, trying to flip over a mattress in the middle of a lake is pretty much the exact opposite of being productive. Tanning, on the other hand, makes me look hotter, which I count as something pretty productive. So, by that logic, you're the unproductive one right now."

"Listen," A punk-rock chick with spiky black hair glares at me. "I don't care if you don't want to be here right now. Hell, _I _don't want to be here right now. But we need to get this done, so you can help us or get thrown into the lake. Your choice."

I sigh loudly, hoisting myself off of the ground. "Fine, I'll help."

"Great," Annabeth gives me a miniscule smile, and my stomach begins to feel all woozy. I blame it on the rocking of the dock. "So I think we should flip it over little by little, everyone standing on the part being flipped. It's foam, so we should be able to bend it. So then first we…" She trails off as she notices everyone staring at her in shock.

Finally, a girl with dark, curly hair and amber eyes voices what everyone was surely thinking. "How did _you _ever get sent to a leadership camp?"

Annabeth blushes bright red. "Sorry. Does anyone else have any other ideas?"

"I agree with Annabeth," Jason, to my surprise, speaks up. "It seems like the most logical thing to do."

Everyone else nods in assent, making their way to the far side of the dock.

"Wait a second," I call out suddenly, and everyone's heads turn to face me. I see the Stoll brothers passing coins (don't ask me why they carried betting money in their bathing suits), undoubtedly predicting another fight between Annabeth and I. "Chiron said that if we placed too much weight on one side of the dock it would flip."

Annabeth glares at me, obviously annoyed. "Percy, we only have half an hour. This is the fastest way to do this. Besides, none of us weighs _that _much."

I shoot a not-so-subtle glance in the direction of Clarisse. "You sure about that?"

Annabeth follows my gaze and frowns. "Um, we'll be careful. So anyways, everyone should partner up with someone a little lighter than them. You'll be lifting that person in the air, so be sure you can hold them for long enough."

"No problem," Travis picks up a girl with a short blonde braid and throws her over his shoulder, completely ignoring her shrieks of protest. "I'll take her."

Jason smirks, walking over to Piper and trying to lift her up. "Gods, how much do you weigh?" He huffs, struggling to keep her in the air.

She looks hurt. "Not that much. You just have no muscle whatsoever."

This seems to energize Jason, and he too picks her up all the way and carries her to the edge of the mattress.

Everyone else begins to partner up, leaving me and another guy who's name I didn't bother to learn for the boys and Annabeth and Clarisse for the girls.

"Well, Jackson," Annabeth smirks. "Take your pick."

I was about to blurt out her name when I realized the promise I had made to myself earlier. _Ignore her. _"Clarisse." I announce, wincing inwardly. Upon turning around, however, I realize Clarisse has picked up the other guy and is carrying him to the edge. Crap.

Turning back to Annabeth I grin cockily. "Well, would you look at that! We're partners!"

She frowns and moves closer. "Just pick me up already."

I move closer to her, throwing her over my shoulder in one fluid motion. She smells like lemon and mint, and as I move over to the side, I try to ignore her bare stomach pressed against my shoulders.

"Right," Annabeth's voice sounds higher pitched than normal, due to the fact that she's currently upside-down. "Hazel and Frank, I want you two to fold a tiny bit of the mattress over and step onto it, pulling a bit more out as you go."

The two of them dutifully follow her instructions, followed by Jason and Piper, then Clarisse and the other guy, whose name I learn is Chris.

"Alright, now Percy and I will walk to this side-" Annabeth starts to speak again, but I cut her off.

"What if I don't want to?" I ask, smirking. Hey, I've let her be bossy for a while. Let me have some fun now.

She exhales loudly, blowing hot air onto my back. I try not to stiffen at the feel of it. "Just move, please."

"No." I walk to the opposite edge of the dock, far away from everybody else. "In fact, the water looks very refreshing. Why don't you and I go for a nice little swim?"

Annabeth pales at the sight of the water. "Come on, don't be an idiot!" She punches my back, hard. "Put me down now."

I pretend to think in my head, marveling at how easy it is to get her all riled up. "Nah, I like you it here. It's warm, and I'm pretty cold." I let go of her for a second, grinning when she lets out a yelp.

"Percy, put her down," Grover comes over by us, limping. I note that he's not using his crutches. "We only have a couple minutes to get this done."

Piper nods, joining Grover. "We all don't want to fail this."

The two of them start pulling Annabeth off my shoulders, and I tighten my grip on her yet again.

"Oh, come on!" Jason smirks directly at Piper. "Stop being such a goody-goody. I say let them have some fun."

"Me too," Clarisse claps Jason on the back, and I smirk a little when he winces. "It's nice to see Miss I'm-So-Good-At-This actually acting scared."

The two of them grab Annabeth as well, much to Piper and Grover's protests, and hold her firm.

"Hey, stop this!" Suddenly the punk-rock chick is in on this too, and now two others girls are assisting Annabeth as well. In retaliation, the boys begin to pull Annabeth closer to me. Annabeth herself wiggles and squirms, obviously not liking the twenty people all pulling her every which way.

Shouting breaks out among us, people pointing fingers and shoving one another. Finally, the soft-spoken girl with the amber eyes lets out such an ear-piercing whistle we all halt. "Hey! Didn't Chiron say too much weight on one side would make the whole thing tip over?"

As soon as she says that, I suddenly take in the fact that all of us are standing on the very edge of the dock together. Then, as if on cue, the other side of the dock shoots up into the air, spilling all of us into the frigid lake in an almost comical manner.

I'm the first one up, gasping and shivering as the ice cold water attacks my bare skin. Annabeth pops up next to me, her cheeks blazing despite the heat and her eyes dark grey, like storm clouds. She's clearly pissed off, most likely at me.

Sure enough, we haven't even pulled ourselves back up onto the now soaked dock before she begins ranting. "I can't believe you! You seemed fine at the beginning of today, and then I thought you were actually going to help us! But no, you had to go and threaten to drop me in the lake! So then everyone begins pulling on me, especially in some places where they shouldn't be"- here she glares at the Stoll brothers, who give her a shrug- "and then we all get dumped in the freezing cold lake, and ugh! You're just… just… such a Seaweed Brain!"

I glare back at her. "Yeah, well you're a… Wise Girl!"

She raises an eyebrow. "Wise Girl? That's the best you've got?"

My cheeks, to my utter disbelief, begin to heat up. "I was under a lot of pressure, alright?"

For a second, the faintest of smiles flickers across her face, but then it's gone, replaced by the same angry expression as before. "Now we've all failed, thanks to you. How do you think your precious worshippers will take that?"

Now she's starting to get on my nerves. "Worshippers! People don't worship me!"

Annabeth smirks. "Oh, really?" Her mouth scrunches up and her voice deepens, obviously in a really bad imitation of me. "Come here everyone, I'm so awesome cause I'm a player and I blew up a bathroom and I make fun of people! Bow down to me, my loyal servants!"

"I've never said that-" I begin hotly, but she cuts me off.

"It doesn't matter what you said, but that's the impression you gave off." Annabeth sighs for a second, rubbing her temples. "Listen, you've only been her for a day and you already have a ton of influence on everyone. Use it wisely." She whirls around to help pull the remaining campers out of the water, momentarily surrounding me with the scent of lemon.

"Who are you, Yoda?" I call out to her, but she's already gone.

_Use it wisely_… what the hell is that supposed to mean?

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**People. You do not want to know how long I worked on this chapter. It's almost 3000 words and I am so proud of it! Plus, it had Percabeth fluff and was funny (at least to me) and... Gods, I absolutely love this chapter. So please, please, review because I love to hear what you all have to say! And if some of those awesome people who followed the story last time could try and leave a little review this time as well, I would very much appreciate it. That being said, it is totally up to you if you want to review or not. I'm not going to try and force you.**

**Oh! I almost forgot to mention this! So, my awesome friend Zoe is refusing to go to our graduation and I need your help. If you have an account, please PM Zoe ( her pen name's ZoeChase) and tell her to come! Your help with this is greatly appreciated. **

**If I don't update for a bit, it's either because of school or Zoe killing me. I'll try my hardest to update before school ends, but it might be tricky.**

**Until next time!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: Review Question: What are your plans for the summer?**


	8. I Tell A Lie

**I swear I updated 2 weeks ago.**

**Yes folks, that is my incredibly lame excuse for why I didn't update for almost a month. But seriously, I thought I had already uploaded this chapter. And then I checked… and I didn't. So sorry, everyone. **

**Thanks to all of the fantastic reviewers from the last chapter: Qwerty616120, MunicoNinja11, MidnightBoredom, SociallyAwkward14174, allen r, PJOSeaOfMonstersFan and samanthajesus 1908. I love every single review and obsess over them frequently, so thank you all for brightening up my day!**

**Another bit of great news- I'm finally done school! Meaning, updates will probably be a lot faster now! And Grad was amazing as well, so yay.**

**Anyways, here's the chapter!**

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CHAPTER 8- I TELL A LIE

ANNABETH

After we all changed out of our sopping wet bathing suits and have a quick bite to eat, Chiron calls us all down to the large arena located at the centre of the camp. Upon entering, I find several punching dummies and large mats, making the whole room look like some kind of bizarre gym. Most of the kids are already in there, sitting cross-legged on the mats. I sit down next to Piper and Thalia, just as Chiron enters through a side door.

"Alright, so since it seems like almost all of us are here, we'll begin." Chiron walks over to a dummy, and I immediately start speculating what we may be doing. Maybe we have to pretend it's a hurt person and perform CPR? Maybe we have to all lift it up together, and hide it somewhere? Maybe they're robots that are here to train us… as my theories start becoming more and more unrealistic, I shake my head slightly and tune back in, watching as Chiron raises his hand as if he was about to smack someone. Then, turning his upper body around quickly from his seat in the wheelchair, he punches the dummy hard, letting an audible _thwack_ echo around the arena.

"That is what you will all be doing." Chiron announces, and every person in the room turns to stare at him in disbelief, none of us understanding what hitting a dummy has to do with being a leader.

Seeing our confused faces, Chiron continues to speak, "Seeing as our team building exercise this morning had a few… ah… errors, I figure everyone would benefit considerably from some time to release any pent-up anger. Partner up and pick a dummy."

I end up with Thalia as my partner, which in hindsight wasn't probably the smartest thing to do. By the end of her turn, which lasted all of five minutes, the dummy was lopsided and had lost a considerable amount of stuffing. She turns to me, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. "Well, Warrior Princess, let's see what you've got."

Warrior Princess is her stupid nickname for me, due to the fact that apparently I look like a princess, but act like a warrior. I roll my eyes at her and step up to the half demolished dummy, curling my hands into fists. I've actually got a pretty decent punch, I just don't use it all that much.

The longer I stare at the dummy, the more I begin to change its characteristics. The painted eyes become sea green, the bald head suddenly is covered in jet black locks, until the dummy has a startling resemblance to Percy. In my head, of course. I draw back my hand, then punch the dummy hard, letting it swing backwards before punching it again. And again, and again, and again.

_Punch! _That's for Sue making me late. _Punch! _That's for having to be sent to this stupid camp. _Punch! Punch! Punch! _Those are all for Percy.

It's not until I finally pause for a second that I notice that everyone's fallen silent, glancing at me and the one other person punching the dummy hard on the other side of the gym, who still remains oblivious to all of the attention.

"Well," Chiron glances at me, then back at the other person, who I realize with a shock is Percy. ""That was quite impressive, you two. Now that we've got all of our anger released, let us move onto the second part of today's lesson. Sit on the mats, please."

I nod mutely and make my way over towards the centre of the arena with everyone else, rolling my eyes as Connor and Travis begin to sing 'Make a Circle'. After everyone is seated, Chiron wheels himself over to the edge of our circle and begins to speak again.

"Alright. To start off the second part of our lesson, first I need all of you to tell me why you were sent to this camp."

"My teacher said it was-" Hazel begins to speak, but Chiron silences her with a wave of his hand.

"That's what your teacher thinks, dear. I want to know what you think."

Hazel ponders this for a moment. "I think it's because I was too shy."

"I think it was because I didn't feel like becoming one." Jason speaks up from the other side of the circle.

"I think it was because I was too gloomy." A sullen boy with long black hair joins in.

At once, everyone starts joining in, their reasons becoming more and more insane as it continues. After five minutes of this chaos, Chiron finally holds up his hand for silence.

"What about you, Annabeth?" He asks me kindly. "You haven't said anything yet."

I sit there in silence for a moment, trying my best to think of a reason. Mr. Blofis said it was because I was too bossy, but, quite honestly, I didn't agree with that statement. In my mind, I was already a leader. I couldn't say that, though. I was supposed to be here to improve, not to show off.

"I… I think it's because I'm too…quiet." I say finally, wincing at the obvious lie. From the second I've got here, I've been anything but that.

"Alright," Chiron looks at me, clearly unconvinced, but lets the matter drop. "But you're wrong. As are you, you and you." He points to random people in the circle, and we all stare back at him in disbelief.

"As a matter of fact, all of you are wrong," Chiron continues. "When I asked you this very simple question, every single one of you listed your insecurities. You can be a leader even if you are too shy, or too gloomy, or too quiet. Leaders aren't always people like the president or a famous businessperson. Leaders are who we make them to be. Thus, all of us have the potential to be leaders, most people just haven't realized it yet.

"Sometimes even if we think we are already leaders"-here Chiron glances at me, and I realize with a shock that he does, in fact, know the real reason why I was sent to this camp-"we still have this feeling in our stomach, that voice inside our head telling us that we're too harsh or too arrogant or too bossy. It takes away from our full leadership potential, making us weaker than we should be. And that is why each and every single one of you are here. My job is to make you reach your full potential in those ten days, and I guarantee it will be tough. It will be hard. There will be times when you feel like giving up. But you are an outstanding group of individuals, and I know that all of you will succeed in the end."

There's a second of silence, all of us staring at him in awe. Then, as if something is controlling us, everyone breaks out into thunderous applause at the same exact time.

"Thank you, thank you." Chiron gives us a little mock bow. "That will be all for today."

I exit the theatre with Piper and Thalia, all of us talking excitedly about Chiron's speech, as was everybody else around us. I'm about to reply to a particularly good comment Piper made when suddenly, a tall figure appears in front of me. Scowling, I stare up into the sea-green eyes of Percy Jackson. "What do you want?"

He smirks at me. "Just wanted to have a few words with the lovely lady that provided us all with that wonderful dip in the lake."

"What?" I splutter indignantly. "That was not my fault! If you had just put me down like any normal person, then-"

"Okay, okay," Percy holds up his hands in surrender. "I'm… I'm sorry. Just let me talk to you for a minute. _Alone_." He adds, with a pointed look at Piper and Thalia.

I glance at my friends, silently pleading them for them not to leave me alone. Unfortunately Piper, ever the romantic, drags Thalia away from us, ignoring my death glare.

As soon as the two of them are out of sight, I turn to face Percy. "Alright, what did you have to tell me that was so important that you can't say it in front of my friends?"

He glances at me, as if gauging if he can get away before I attack him. "I know you were lying."

My heart starts to race. "I lie all of the time. Are we done now?" I turn to walk away, but Percy grabs my hand and pulls me back towards him. I quickly shake him off, ignoring the red flush on both of our cheeks.

"Back in the arena," Percy clarifies. "You weren't sent here because you were too quiet. I mean sure, you're annoying and brattish and feisty, but you aren't quiet. I know that, you know that, and everyone else knows that. Why'd you lie to Chiron, then?"

"Maybe because I felt like it! Why do you care, anyways!" I'm starting to get really annoyed with him. Who is he to go prying through my personal life?

"I care because…" Percy trails off. "Never mind. My point is, Annabeth, you can't just go and hide your emotions from everyone. This camp is supposed to help you."

I stare at him. "Why are you acting like this? It's my life, my problem. Stay out of it and let me be." Giving him one last eye roll, I turn and begin to walk away.

"Well what if I don't want to?" Percy stares at me, clearly not picking up on the fact that I just wanted to be alone.

"Then too bad!" I call over my shoulder, seething inside and out. Why was he so interested in knowing why I lied? He was so serious about the whole thing that it scared me just a tiny bit. Even in the short while I had known him, I had already figured out that he didn't normally act like that.

Shaking my head to clear it of these thoughts, I walk back into my cabin and am immediately bombarded with questions about what Percy and I did. I roll my eyes and assure them all nothing happened, we weren't secret lovers and that he and I didn't randomly break out into a cliché movie kiss. Then, glancing around, I notice something's wrong.

"Hey, where's Katie?"

As if on cue, the girl in question herself comes barging through the door, dripping with some brown substance. Drew squeals and runs to protect her bags from the liquid, while the rest of us stand there, completely dumbfounded. Finally, Clarisse speaks.

"I swear this wasn't me."

That seems to set everybody else off, and suddenly accusations are flying and fingers are being pointed, until Katie lets out a whistle and we all halt.

"This wasn't any of you, don't worry. It was the stupid Stolls!" She grimaces, trying to unsuccessfully wipe the goo off. "They attacked me with chocolate bombs when I left the arena."

"That's chocolate?" Piper moves forward, interested.

"Remember your weight, Dumpster Queen!" Drew sings, and Piper immediately steps back.

"Yes, it's chocolate," Katie frowns. "And I can't get it off! I swear, I've been scrubbing myself for the last half an hour and nothing's working!"

"Well, you aren't the only one who had a terrible boy experience today," Piper sighs. "Jason decided to 'accidentally' drop my phone in the lake. So now, if my Dad finally agrees to let me go home, I won't know!"

"Yeah, this idiot named Chris got on my nerves as well." Clarisse says, squashing a pillow between her hands. "He bragged that he could punch harder than me earlier. I mean, come on! He looked like a pansy!"

"Well, this weirdo named Octavian kept on murdering teddy bears in front of me!" Hazel shudders. "He kept on pretending to read their stuffing and then say he knew all of my secrets!"

Thalia shrugs. "In my book, all boys are stupid."

Everyone starts adding to the conversation now, remarking on all of the things that the boys had done today. At last, I speak up above the din, causing everyone to fall silent.

"Girls, do you know what this means?" I smile devilishly, the light above my head casting a wicked glow on my face. "It's time to get our revenge!"

Thalia jumps up, her blue eyes wide with excitement. "I like how you think, Warrior Princess. What's the plan?"

I grin, letting everyone else gather around me. "Well, this is what I had in mind…"

* * *

**Yeah, I know, not the best. But hey, at least it passed the 2000 word mark! The next chapter is gonna be so much fun to write- can anyone guess what Annabeth and the rest of the girls will do to get revenge? Only I know... mwahahaha!**

**And hey, I'll even make you guys a deal. 10 reviews and I'll update in a week. I really hate doing this, but reviews have begun to dwindle lately and I just wanted to see what was up. It's alright if you're busy, but even three words would make my day.**

**Thanks and hope you enjoyed!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: Who else had read The Mortal Instruments? I just got it last week and I love it!**


	9. I Get Pranky

***gasp* It's only been a week and one day since I last updated! That's impossible!**

**Yeah, I'll bet the majority of you thought you wouldn't be seeing me around here for another month or so, but once again... summer for a person with no social life whatsoever (aka yours truly) means loads of free time. As well, I really lovelovelove this chapter so I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. **

**Although we didn't get 10 reviews for the last chapter, the reviews I got were all positive and incredible. So thank you to Jazzanimez, SociallyAwkward14174, want some nightlock, kit cat, MunicoNinja11, and KayCee. You are all amazing!**

**KayCee- You do not want to know how many times I've heard that lol. But yeah, TMI is amazing!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

CHAPTER 9- I GET PRANKY

PERCY

The sound of loud shouting shakes me out of my slumber.

Blinking blearily, I open my eyes and stare out at the scene in front of me. Boys are running all over, some of them covered in green goo, others tossing pillows and other assorted objects at one another, and a few cowering underneath their bunks. Thinking this to be some bizarre dream, I bury back underneath the covers in a futile attempt to go back to sleep, only to have someone steal my pillow a moment later, causing me to roll out of bed and land on the floor.

"Hey!" I shout, but it gets lost in the din. I try again, louder this time. "HEY!"

At once, all of the boys freeze and glance over at me, taking my murderous expression and my spot on the ground. Grover steps forward, looking guilty.

"Hey, you're up! Sorry, we were trying to let you sleep in a bit." He explains.

"Yeah, well that's kind of hard when you have freaking World War 3 going on in here," I grumble moodily. "What even happened anyways?"

All of the boys speak up at once, their voices blurring together into a jumbled mess that makes my head hurt. I hold up a hand, forcing them all to stop. "Is it possible for just one of you to explain?"

Nico, who had been silent this whole time, finally speaks up. "The entire cabin's booby trapped."

I stare at him in disbelief. "That's it? You guys are spazzing because someone stuck a buzzer on the washroom door or something? Just go and get Beckendorf!"

When none of them make a move to leave the room, I sigh and get up from the floor. Walking over to the front door of the cabin, I turn the knob, just in time for a jet of green goo to squirt me, covering my t-shirt and face.

I splutter, wiping the gunk off of me as I swear underneath my breath. From his bunk, Nico smirks. "Told ya."

I flip him the bird before turning to face the rest of the cabin. "Alright, 'fess up. Which one of you idiots did this?"

At once, everyone's gaze swivels towards Connor and Travis Stoll.

"It wasn't us!" Travis protests, noticing our glares. "All of our supplies are hidden underneath our bunk- you didn't hear that." He adds hastily.

"But…" Jason says, obviously deep in thought, "If it wasn't the Stolls, then who was it?"

I run a hand through my ever-messy hair, thinking. At a camp as small as this one, there wasn't very many people who could have pulled a prank like that. You'd have to be smart, and sneaky, and good at convincing people. I furrow my eyebrows, an idea beginning to come to me, but before I could speak someone else took the words right out of my mouth.

"It was the girls!" Octavian, the cabin's resident weirdo, shouts as he barrels out of the washroom, holding a beheaded teddy bear in one hand. "I have read the entrails of this noble creature and have come to the conclusion that-"

"-there was a note taped to the window." Leo speaks up, snagging a slip of paper out of Octavian's hand. "Don't try to read the future, man. I've learned the hard way that it does not impress the ladies."

I roll my eyes and take the piece of paper from Leo, before reading it aloud. "Did you like our prank this morning? Or was it just a bore? Either way, the girls of Camp Half-Blood challenge you to a prank war."

"It rhymes!" Frank pipes up.

Nico sighs. "That's seriously not our biggest problem right now."

"A prank war?" Jason smiles, whirling to face Connor and Travis. "You got anything good, boys?"

The brothers grin in unison, making the resemblance between them even more startling. "You bet."

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

"Alright, go!" I whisper to Frank, giving him a little shove. He grumbles, but walks over to the girls table to begin step one of our master plan. Getting down on his knees, he begins crawling around on the ground, impersonating what I think was a rat.

"That's his idea of a distraction?" Leo groans from beside me. "_Dioses nos ayuden_!"*

I look at him confusedly, but he just walks off, still mumbling in a bizarre mix of English and what I think was Spanish. Shaking my head, I turn back to the girls table, where Frank was now barking like a dog. Most of the girls were laughing as planned, but Annabeth, seated at the end of the table, glanced at him suspiciously, as if she could tell what we were planning. Granted, Frank may have not been the best distraction, but we only had half an hour to come up with this plan in time for breakfast, so it was a little shabby.

All of the sudden, Annabeth's gaze turns directly towards me. I quickly wipe the calculating expression off of my face, replacing it with one of bored indifference. She frowns, obviously wary of what I was up to, but finally turned away. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I launch into stage two of the plan. As all of the girls sit there, giggling at Frank, Connor and Travis sneak up behind them and replace the cans of whipped cream on their table with a foam-like substance that looked almost identical. Travis had assured me beforehand that the substance would not kill them, but then had refused to tell me what was in it, making me a bit nervous about what was going to happen. But hey, anything goes in a prank war, right?

As soon as the Stoll brothers disappear from sight, Frank springs up from the ground and practically runs back to our table, his face flushed. "I swear, that was the most mortifying experience of my entire life." He mumbles, burying his head in his hands.

"Well, if we want to win this prank war, it won't be the last." Nico says unsympathetically.

Jason shushes them, his eyes fixed on the girl's table. "Look!"

Clarisse picks up the can of 'whipped cream' from the table, spraying it all over her waffle. All of the boys watch with bated breath as she raises the waffle to her mouth… only to put it back down again as she turns to argue with Thalia. Katie picks up the can as well, spraying it onto her plate, followed by Piper and Hazel. Once almost everyone at the table has whipped cream on their plate, all of the girls begin to eat.

At once, the room comes alive with the sounds of gagging and spitting. Chiron looks over at the table where he's sitting with Mr. D, obviously concerned, but the girls pay no attention to him as they stagger towards the bathroom. I glance back at the girls table, where a few people still sit, eyeing the whipped cream as if it was poison. Annabeth's among them, and I feel relieved for a second that she didn't get pranked, but then the feeling's replaced with the knowledge that this whole prank war is most likely her doing.

As if she could feel my gaze, Annabeth turns to face me. Then, with a smile so cocky I want to smack it off her face, she mouths two words.

_Game on._

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

The whole day continues like this- both genders pranking the other in a desperate attempt to win. By mid-afternoon, the girl's cabin is covered in toilet paper and the boys are covered in glitter. I shake my head free of the sparkles, turning towards Connor and Travis. "Got anything left, boys?"

"Not if we want to be able to prank anyone for the next week," Connor grumbles. "If we had known there was going to be a prank war beforehand, we would've stocked up, but we just brought our regular stuff."

"We've been forced to resort to amateur pranks!" Travis wails overdramatically. "I mean, toilet paper? We were doing that when we were in diapers!"

"Actually, we used diapers to prank back then," Connor reminds his brother.

I hold up my hand to prevent any further prank reminiscing. "Okay, I get the idea. But it's the girls turn to prank now. Which means that we need to start brainstorming our next move."

As if on cue, a loud bang sounds from the campfire. I race over, Connor and Travis on my heels. Jason, Nico, Leo and Frank stand there, all of them covered with pink paint. And in the middle of all of them is Chiron, his beard completely fuchsia.

Well, crap.

The girls race up just after we do, all of them skidding to a stop when they see Chiron's furious expression. Although no one had mentioned it, everyone had assumed that we would try and keep the prank war underneath the radar. During all of our lessons so far, the boys and girls had been civil to one another in an attempt to convince all of the counselors that nothing was up. That was obviously a lost hope now.

"Unbelievable," Chiron says, lowering his head in what I presume to be shame. "Completely unbelievable."

All of the sudden, hope begins to swell in my chest. Surely if he's this mad, we'll all have to be sent home early. I mean, sure he said he had hope for us and whatever, but after that stunt we just pulled, there was no way he's letting us stick around.

My suspicions are pretty much confirmed when Chiron ushers all 20 of us into his office, staring at us with an expression I can't quite decipher. Then, he does the unthinkable.

He begins to laugh.

To make matters worse, it isn't even just a simple chuckle. Instead, it's peals of semi-hysterical guffaws that echo around the room as we all stand there, completely dumbfounded.

I'm the first to speak up. "Are you having a stroke?"

Annabeth shoots me a withering glare. "Laughter isn't a symptom for strokes, you idiot. However, trouble with walking, talking and eyesight are all signs, as well as-"

I hold up a hand to stop her. "If I wanted the lesson, I would have stayed awake in Health class. But hey, since you're so smart, why don't you tell us what's wrong with him?"

Annabeth glances over at Chiron, who's now face down on his desk, his body quaking with laughter. Her eyebrows scrunch together while she thinks in a way that makes her look even more se- er, visually appealing, if that's even possible.

"I think… he's just really happy," She finally concludes.

"You sure he's not gone insane?" Travis asks hesitantly, prodding Chiron with his foot.

At once, the camp leader seems to become aware of the scene he's creating and springs up, smoothing down his pink beard. "Ahem, sorry about that children. It's just… it's just... you've done it by yourself! In all of my years here, I have never seen anyone do what you just did."

"Please say we're kicked out, please say we're kicked out…" Jason chants under his breath.

"You have taken the first step to becoming successful leaders!" Chiron announces.

At once, the room explodes with "what!"s and "no way!"s. I stare at him in disbelief, not believing what I'm hearing.

"With due respect, do you even know what exactly it is that we did?" I ask Chiron skeptically. "We caused a freaking prank war. There's been semi-poisonous whipped cream, squirting doorknobs, and hell, your beard is pink! I think what you meant to say is something along the lines of 'pack your bags and get out of my sight?'"

Chiron stares at me, his dark eyes boring into my green ones. "No, what I said is _exactly_ what I meant, Mr. Jackson. All of you, for once, were able to work successfully as a team- well, two teams, but teams nonetheless- and perform tasks outside of your comfort zone just for the sake of reaching a common goal. You assisted one another greatly, completing things that you wouldn't be able to do on your own. All in all, I am very proud of everyone in this room. You may have the rest of the day off."

There are a few whoops as everyone begins to race outside. I, however, decide to hang back a bit, waiting until everyone else has left the room. Then, slowly, I begin to make my way over to the big cabinet marked 'Camp Records'.

Now let me clear something up for all of you. I'm not a generally bad person. I mean yeah, I mess around with girls a bit and slack off and I don't have the best track record with teachers, but that's just who I am. I am not, however, a drug dealer or a graffiti artist or a thief. I like to have fun, like any other teenager who actually has a life, but I'm not into illegal fun at all. Meaning I won't usually break into filing cabinets and try and find out more about gorgeous, annoying girls that attend the same stupid camp as me. But this was a special case, and I'm pretty sure you can't get arrested at summer camp… right?

I pull open the top drawer of the filing cabinet, quickly sifting through the contents. There's a big stack of bills, followed by a couple of chequebooks and a whole bunch of documents marked 'Void'. Groaning, I move onto the next drawer, which just contains news articles about the camp. One catches my eye- it's an newspaper clipping from the nineties talking about a building that was burnt down here. I'm about to pull it out of the drawer to get a closer look when suddenly loud footsteps sound in the hallway right outside Chiron's office.

"I just need to grab my sweater, and then I'll come!" I heard a familiar voice shout. Annabeth.

I smirk. I could have some fun with this.

Just as she enters the office, I whirl around from behind the filing cabinet, making her squeal and jump about a foot in the air. "What are you doing in here?" Annabeth demands, her grey eyes narrowing in a futile attempt to cover up her shriek a moment ago.

My grin falters when I realize that I can't tell her that she's the reason I was snooping around Chiron's office. "I, um… needed my t-shirt." I say lamely, grabbing a wrinkled shirt reading "Party Ponies Florida '08" off of the desk.

"Mhmm," Annabeth doesn't look convinced. "I never knew you were a Party Pony."

My cheeks, to my utmost surprise, flush red. "I was little, okay?"

She isn't listening, though. Instead, Annabeth is moving towards the still open filing cabinet, her forehead creased. "Were you looking through Chiron's stuff?"

I open my mouth to answer, but just then voices sound for the second time in the hallway. This time, however, the voice is much more deeper and masculine.

"Chiron!" Annabeth gasps, her grey eyes wide. I grab her arm and pull her into the closet by the back of the office, shutting the door just as he and Mr. D enter the room. Annabeth lets out a little gasp at the sudden movement, falling backwards on top of me. I hold a finger to my lips as we both press our ears to the door, straining to listen in on their conversation.

I'm starting to think I may be a bad person after all.

"...another one?" Chiron's voice sounds weary, tired. "They can't keep this up for much longer."

"Someone's intercepting them!" Mr. D bangs his hand down on something, and both Annabeth and I flinch. "Personally, I think it's that Peter Johnson kid. He looks like bad news."

Annabeth turns to face me almost automatically, and my throat tightens at the look of shock on her barely visible face, even though I had no clue what Mr. D was accusing me of. Then, to my surprise, she lays her hand on mine almost hesitantly, as if saying she knows that I'm innocent. My fingers wrap around hers loosely, and we sit there together in the semi-darkness, both of our cheeks bright red. I tug at my shirt collar with my free hand, a futile attempt to figure out why it suddenly feels so warm in here.

"We need to figure this out!" Chiron's shout brings me back to the present. "The electricity company, the water company, and the insurance company all claim we haven't sent them money for over two months!"

"But the cheques have been cashed," Mr. D says lazily. "Can't the police trace them?"

Chiron sighs loudly. "No, I'm afraid not. There's some kind of block- a wall, if you will- that is hiding all traces of where those cheques went."

"Humph," Mr. D doesn't seem satisfied. "We'll discuss this later. Right now, you should go and make sure none of those brats have set anything on fire. And I swear, if they've touched even one piece of my pinochle game..."

His voice trails off as he and Chiron exit the room. Annabeth and I crouch in the closet with bated breath, waiting until we hear the telltale click of the door closing behind them. The second after it finally sounds, Annabeth jumps up and opens the door. To my surprise, I'm dragged along with her, but then I realize our hands are still clasped together. We both let go at the same time, our cheeks flaming.

"What was that about?" Annabeth says, moving towards the door. "I mean, someone's obviously stealing money from the camp, but... who?"

"I thought you were supposed to be smart," I remark, leaning back against the desk. "Shouldn't you know?"

"I am above average intelligence, not a freaking mind reader!" Annabeth snaps, then her expression falters. "We can't tell anyone about this you know."

Although I'm trying desperately not to show it, I'm a bit intimidated by her steely grey eyes. "I know, chillax."

"I mean it!" Annabeth's expression is getting more and more frantic. "Seriously, if this gets out, it could be the end of this camp! I mean, I know you don't like it here but-"

I cut her off. "Don't like it? I hate this place! If you want to convince me not to tell, you're gonna have to do better than that."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Fine, what do you want?"

I smirk. "A kiss."

To my surprise, a small smile dances across her lips. "If you're alive at the end of the week, Seaweed Brain, then we'll see." She walks open to the door and pulls it open, leaving me standing there dumbfounded.

"Oh, and Percy?" Annabeth pops her head back into the room, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Good job today in the prank war."

I nod mutely and choke out a barely audible "You too" before racing back to my cabin. Slumping against my bunk, I place my head in my hands.

What's wrong with me?

* * *

**Oh, if only you knew Percy, if only you knew...**

**But yay! Percabeth is beginning to happen! I was squealing while writing the closet scene :)**

**OMG this is the longest chapter yet- over 3000 words! Do you guys like the longer chapters or do you prefer them shorter?**

**Oh, and I have a little challenge for you all- tell me what TV show this chapter's title is from and you get a sneak peek of the next chapter (which I am super excited to write). Good luck!**

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated as they make my day!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: I forgot to tell everyone- I'm participating in PJO Ship Weeks 2013! If you are a fan of Thaluke, I have the first one shot up on my profile. Next week will be Silendorf, so be on the lookout for that!**

*** The Spanish Leo said meant "Gods Help Us!"**


	10. Babysitting Is Much Harder Than It Looks

**World: *gasp* It's only been a week since you last updated! The apocalypse is coming!**

**Me: No, it's called summer and no social life!**

**Anyways, hi! It's me again, ready to post another chapter! But first, to thank some very epic reviewers... Jasonandpiperforever, MissSemi-Dependent, smileyface9, The Girl of the Moon, Qwerty616120, and MidnightBoredom. There was a ton of great feedback in the last chapter's reviews and that really made my week. I love to hear what you all have to say and I really benefited positively from all of your kind words. So...mega huge thanks to you all!**

**Also, to MissSemi-Dependent, you are correct! Unfortunately, my stupid PM thing is not working right now, but when it does you will get your sneak peek!**

**Anyways, onto this chapter!**

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CHAPTER 10- BABYSITTING IS MUCH HARDER THAN IT LOOKS

ANNABETH

"What's taking the boys so long?" Piper yawns, resting her head on the picnic table. "I mean, Chiron told us all to be in the pavilion for six am and there's still no sign of them!"

Katie shrugs, buttering a bagel. "They're probably still trying to get the glitter out of their hair from yesterday's prank war."

"Yeah, cause we beat their sorry little butts!" Thalia grins. "I know I said it before, but a having a prank war was a genius idea, Annie."

"Mmm?" I turn to face Thalia, having barely listened to their conversation. "What did you say?"

Thalia, however, doesn't repeat her statement. She stares at me suspiciously, her lidded eyes widening as she does the unthinkable.

She squeals.

At once, Piper lifts her head off the table and stares at me as if dissecting an animal. Finally, she too starts shrieking in a dangerously high voice.

I turn towards Katie, hoping that there's at least one sane person at this table. But alas, she's smiling at me in a way that, if possible, makes me feel even more bewildered.

"What?" I demand, glancing around at them. "What's so exciting?"

None of them answer me, though. Instead, Piper calls Lacy over and they begin conferring in low voices, gesturing frantically over at me. Finally, Lacy gives a firm nod and they all begin shrieking even louder.

"Hey!" Clarisse calls out from her spot. "Stop screaming like pansies! It's giving me a headache!"

"Sorry!" Lacy calls back, still grinning. "It's just... Percabeth has finally happened!"

I choke on my juice, finally realizing what's going on. "Um, excuse me?"

Piper smiles at me, her kaleidoscopic eyes sparkling. "It happened last night, didn't it? That's why you were so out of it!"

"Wh-wha-what?" I splutter. Granted, I was acting a bit strange last night, but that was mostly due to the fact that I had voluntarily decided to hold Percy's hand, and, even more shockingly, flirted with him. I think it was just the fact that he seemed much more innocent when we were huddled there together in the closet, but I was still in a bit of a stupor about the whole ordeal. After all, it's not often (meaning, never) that a girl tells a guy they supposedly hate that they'll kiss them if they survive the week.

"We did not get together." I state firmly. "Why did you all even consider that in the first place?"

"Well, you just looked so dreamy that we thought that you guys started dating," Piper explains. "Also, the fact that both you and Percy didn't leave the Big House much later and both of you looked like you had been rolling around in a closet when you did!"

If only you knew how true that was, I think wryly, but don't say aloud. "How did you know all of that?" I ask instead.

Piper, to my surprise, flushes a brilliant red. "I have my connections." She says evasively.

Before I could ask Piper what exactly her so-called 'connections' were, however, Chiron calls us all to attention from the front of the room. I glance around and notice that the boys have just begun to trickle in, yawning and bleary eyed.

"While you all are finishing up your breakfast- eat quickly, boys, as all dishes will be cleared in five minutes- I want to brief you all on the activity we will be doing for the entire day."

"Activity?" Katie scrunches up her nose in distaste. "Sounds boring."

"We will be travelling into town today" -this elicits a few hoots- "to partake in new leadership opportunities with pre-assigned partners," Chiron pauses and surveys the room. "I expect you all to behave like the well-mannered and mature people I know you all are. Each partnership will have a guide to help you throughout your activity and will report back to me at the end of the day. Good luck."

And with that, he proceeds to begin reading off the pairs.

"...Travis Stoll and Katie Gardiner at Riverhurst Seniors Centre, Piper McLean and Jason Grace at George Washington Public Library, Annabeth Chase and"- here Chiron pauses, and my heart flips. Surely the Fates wouldn't be so cruel as to pair me with- "Percy Jackson."

The Fates must be busy. Hopefully it's not a bad place...

"at White Pines Daycare."

Screw being busy. The Fates must hate me.

Chiron continues to read out the names, but it's all begun to fade into a dull hum in the background for me. All I can hear is those dreaded words repeat themselves over and over in my head, feel my friend's smirks from across the table.

Percy and I.

Working together.

At a daycare.

There is no way this is going to end well.

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

All twenty of us pile onto the school bus, Argus at the wheel. My cheeks redden almost automatically when I recall the events that happened last time I was on this bus, the ones concerning Percy and I. As if sensing my discomfort, Piper leans over and pulls me towards the back of the bus, shoving me into a seat next to Thalia.

"Spill." Thalia demands, poking my shoulder.

"About what?" I raise an eyebrow. "I told you, Percy and I aren't dating."

"We know that, but something else must have happened to make you look that flustered," Piper explains. "So what is it?"

I sigh, then begin recounting last night's events in a hushed voice, making sure no one else around could overhear. After I had finished, the two of them sat there, glancing at another in a way that made me incredibly uncomfortable. Then:

"So do you like Percy now?"

Thalia whacks Piper on the arm. "Don't be so blunt about it! But seriously Warrior Princess, do you?"

To my surprise, I hesitate before answering. After all, Percy's rude, conceited, and has annoyed me ever since I got here. But, at the same time, he seemed to genuinely care for me after the lesson two days ago with Chiron, and the way he had glanced at me in the closet… I shake my head firmly. No. I won't fall for him.

"So…" Piper prompts, and I realize I still haven't answered them. "Is that a yes or a no?"

I open my mouth to speak, but, at that moment, the bus doors whoosh open. "Oh, we're here."

Thanking the Gods silently for the escape, I quickly exit the bus, almost bumping into Percy on the way out. He steadies me, his green eyes twinkling.

"You know, I may be the most amazing partner ever, but you don't have to throw yourself at me like this." Percy grins.

My cheeks flush. "Hardly. I was just hoping to get this over with so I don't have to see your hideous face anymore. Now come on, the daycare's just down the street."

Pulling out the map Chiron had handed each partnership upon exiting the bus, I make my way down the avenue. After a couple minutes of walking, I halt in front of a large, bright blue sign proudly proclaiming 'White Pines Daycare'.

Percy grimaces, taking in the finger-painted posters and popsicle stick crafts that adorn the front display. Muttering something about cruel and unusual punishment, he shoves the door open. I follow meekly behind him.

A teenage girl sits behind the main counter, chewing a wad of bubble gum while winding a strand of fiery red hair around a finger. She grins as we come in, hopping off the stool she had been sitting on and racing towards us. Or, more namely, Percy.

"Oh, you're here!" The redhead smiles. "I've been looking after these little freaks forever- it's about time someone else showed up!"

I glance at the sign in the window. "Didn't this place only open fifteen minutes ago?"

The girl glares at me before returning her attention to Percy. "I'm Rachel. What's your name?"

I decide it's time to butt in. "He's Percy, I'm Annabeth. So where are these kids we're supposed to be watching?"

Rachel rolls her eyes but pushes open a door leading into another, much larger, room. Kids are running amok everywhere, some tossing paint at one another, others ripping pages out of books. Two little boys over in the corner are having a full out brawl. There seems to be no adults anywhere in sight.

"We're a little understaffed right now," Rachel explains, not seeming the least bit apologetic. "My parents are usually here, but today they're on some business thing. Anyways, lunch is at 12 and they have snacks at 10:30 and 2:30. Pickup is at 5. Good luck!"

And with that, she shuts the door, leaving Percy and I alone with twenty or so screaming kids. Simultaneously, three children all begin to wail. Percy glances over at me, looking desperately overwhelmed as I shove two puppets into his hands.

"Entertain them!" I shout over the din. He nods, wading into the mess of kids and sitting down.

I walk over to the first crying child and pat his shoulder. "What's the matter?"

His tiny face scrunches up, which I realize from looking after my two brothers is a sure sign that he's going to start bawling. I quickly pick him up, rocking him back and forth. "Calm down," I shush him gently. Still, despite my best efforts, the kid still isn't quiet.

"Annabeth!" Percy yells, the puppets long gone from his hands. "Get the stupid kid to shut up!"

The room falls silent, and I exhale loudly. "Great, now that they're all settled-"

More kids burst into tears suddenly, and some begin shrieking. One red-faced little girl runs up to Percy and kicks him. "You said the S Word!" She declares, stomping away.

"What, stupid?" Percy rolls his eyes, and more kids start bawling. "That isn't even a bad word!"

"Stop saying it!" I shout, trying to ignore the child screaming in my ear. "It's upsetting them!"  
"Well, how do we stop upsetting them?" He demands.

I rack my mind, trying to remember anything from my messed-up childhood. "Ummm... sing!"

"I'm not going to sing for a whole bunch of snot-faced babies!"

"Fine, I'll sing as well," Cringing, I launch into an off-key version of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Percy joins in, but the kids only scream louder.

"Now what?" He says, exasperated.

"I don't know! Why don't you think of something for a change?" I retort bitterly.

"Oh, because I haven't been racking my brain for something to get us out of this mess this whole time!"

"Considering how small your brain is, you should have finished doing that about five minutes ago!"

Not everyone can have a mega nerd brain like yours!"

"Right, there's people like you, whose heads are filled with seaweed!"

"Yeah, well..." Percy trails off as a little boy taps him on the shoulder. "What, kid?"

"You funny!" The boy grins, revealing his missing top teeth.

"Um..." Percy looks over at me for help, clearly forgetting about our argument moments ago. I mime rolling a car along the ground, hoping he'll catch on. "Want to go...paint the floor?"

I facepalm, then try and pretend to honk a horn. "Want to go bake some bread?" Percy tries again.

By this point, the little boy looks thoroughly confused. In a last ditch attempt, I move my hands as if turning a steering wheel.

"Want to go... take Rachel's car for a joyride?" Percy guesses.

"Play cars with him!" I finally shout, exasperated.

At the mention of the word 'car', all of the little boys perk up, practically dragging Percy over to a pile of Hot Wheels. I smile just as the first little girls appear to drag me away to play princesses.

Maybe this won't be so hard after all.

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

"You ok?" I ask Percy, walking up to where he's squatting over a pile of toys. It's later that day, and the kids are all quietly eating their lunch. Percy, however, is still feverishly trying to assemble what looks like a racetrack on the floor, clicking the pieces together one by one.

"Yeah," He grunts, not looking up. "Oliver and Jacob said that they'd been trying to get this racetrack together for days, so I decided to give them a little help."

I smile. "You're pretty good at this, you know."

Percy shrugs. "I have a little brother named Tyson that I used to look after a lot. He was really into cars and building things as well."

My brow furrows. "Used to?"

"He lives with my father now," Percy says shortly, standing up and stretching. "So, what do we have to do- whoa!"

I glance around, wondering why Percy suddenly looked so amazed. "What is it? What's wrong?"

To my surprise, he looks down a bit bashfully. "You look different."

I glance at myself, suddenly realizing what caused his outburst. After being dragged away by the little girls for a princess tea party, they had decided to give me a 'makeover', complete with a tiara and so much makeup I felt like I was wearing a mask. I had gone to the washroom to clean up some of their creation, but the majority of it was going to be plastered on my face until I could take a shower.

"Yeah, well most of them are under five," I begin to explain. "So they aren't exactly experts when it comes to applying ma-"

"I meant different in a good way," Percy breathes, stepping closer to me. "You look beautiful."

My face had begun to burn so bad I looked like a tomato. "Um-"

"Oh good, there you are!" Rachel steps in between Percy and I suddenly, stopping any moment we may or may not have been having. "You can have your lunch break now. Just be back for 1:00 while I watch the stupid kids again."

"Now, now," Percy says, smirking. "Don't go saying the S Word."

I grin, although inside I still feel flustered. Since when had Percy Jackson, the bane of my experience at Camp Half-Blood, complimented me?

"…and Annabeth?" Hearing my name, I snap back to focus, only to find Percy staring at me expectantly.

"Oh, sorry," I blush. "Could you repeat that?"

"I was asking you if you wanted McDonalds for lunch," Percy re-explained, while Rachel shot daggers at me with her eyes. "Or is it not posh enough for royalty?" He tweaked my fake tiara.

"N-n-no, McDonalds is fine." I say hurriedly, shocked to realize that I'm stuttering. "Let's go."

And with that, Percy and I made our way out of the room. Once outside, I slump against the door for a second, taking a deep breath.

What's wrong with me?

* * *

***smiles* I really like this chapter, especially the end. The idea of them working at a daycare has been in my mind from the moment I began brainstorming for this story, and it was tons of fun to write it all down like this.**

**Guys, this is our first double-digit chapter. Do you think you could give me ten reviews to celebrate?**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: I'm going to go and see Despicable Me 2 with some friends right after I post this...if anyone else has seen it, feel free to leave your thoughts in a review!**


	11. We Win Some And Lose Some

**OH MY GODS I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. **

**12 reviews for the last chapter! I literally started crying when I saw all of your positive words. I love that people are actually enjoying things I've written, because this is the first time I've ever shared my work so publicly. You guys have helped me so much and brightened up even the darkest of days, so thank you.**

**So... thanks from the bottom of my heart to allen r, GlenCoco135, kit catt luvs Percy j, SociallyAwkward14174, MissSemi-Dependent, Qwerty616120, Flashback From The Future, MidnightBoredom, SuzieDaughterOfHermes, Die Hard Fan PL, and Supreme98. You all have no clue how happy you've made me.**

**Life has been incredibly busy all of the sudden, with camp and trips and birthdays. I admittedly kind of rushed on this chapter a little because I really wanted to get it out, so I apologize if it's not the best.**

**Enjoy!**

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CHAPTER 11- WE WIN SOME AND LOSE SOME

PERCY

"You have got to be kidding me," I stare at Annabeth's tray in disbelief. "We're at McDonalds, home of greasy food, and you order a salad?"

"It's still fairly unhealthy!" Annabeth protests, holding up the container. "See, it's mainly iceberg lettuce, and the amount of fat in this dressing-"

I bite into my double Big Mac, holding up a hand to stop her rant. "So you're a health freak. I'll add that to my list of things I know about you."

She winces. "Chew and swallow before talking, please. And anyways, you have a list?"

I mentally add manners to my list before speaking aloud. "Yeah, I have a list. It's kind of short right now though, care to make it longer?"

A smile graces Annabeth's face. "Is that your failed attempt to try and get me to tell you more about me?"

"It's not a fail if it worked." I point out cockily.

"Alright, fine," Annabeth pauses for a second, thinking. I'm struck once again by how pretty she looks- a thought I accidentally let slip out of my mouth earlier. The eye shadow the girls put on her this morning is smudged, her cheeks are a bit sunburnt- or is she blushing?- and her hair's escaping her messy ponytail, falling into her face. If anything, she should look average, even a bit ugly. I mean, the girls I usually go for show a lot more skin, voluntarily cake makeup onto their face and are all over me. Yet somehow, Annabeth manages to look pretty- beautiful, even, looking like this. I shake my head, clearing it from these forbidden thoughts. I'm turning into a sap.

"Hello?" Annabeth snaps her fingers in front of my face, and I realize I've been staring at her for the past two minutes. "You know, if you want me to tell you things, you should probably start paying attention."

"Right, sorry," I blush, something I wouldn't been caught dead doing a week ago. "Carry on."

"Alright, so here it goes," Annabeth takes a bite of her- cringe- extremely healthy salad. "So I used to live in San Francisco with my dad, my step-mom, and my two half-brothers. My Dad's a professor, so he works a lot, meaning I was home with my step-mom a lot. She was always kind of harsh to me. Not abuse-harsh, but just blaming me for a lot of things my brothers did. I tried to run away a few times, but I always got caught."

Annabeth takes a deep breath and laughs nervously. "I honestly have no clue why I'm spilling my guts to you."

"It's alright," I prompt, intrigued by her story. "Continue."

"Anyways… when I was eleven I moved to New York with my mother. She's an architect, like I want to be when I'm older. And, like my father, she was also very busy. So once again, I ran. Once again, I got caught. Finally, she sent me to a boarding school and I've gone there ever since. The end."

"Wow," I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the information she just told me. "Now, onto simpler things. Why do you want to be an architect?"

"It's permanent," Annabeth answers easily. "I mean, hearts can be broken, relationships can be destroyed, but a structure… that's something that's always going to be there. And quite honestly, I really need something permanent in my life. But hey, enough about me. It's your turn now."

I gape at her, admittedly not expecting this. But I guess since she told me about her crappy life, I should tell her about mine. "Ok, so I've lived in NYC my whole life. My mom married this man when I was six, named Gabe. He smelled like a sewer, so I called him Smelly Gabe"- here Annabeth smiles- "I was little, ok? Anyways, he wasn't the best person. He did… things to my mom, and sometimes to me as well. My mom divorced him when I was eleven, and then dated and married another man named Paul Blofis. I've never met my dad, end of story."

Annabeth laughs a bit bitterly. "Looks like we both had pretty messed-up childhoods, eh?"

I'm about to respond when the door swings open and Leo, Piper, Jason, Travis, and Katie all pour into the restaurant, making a beeline for us. Annabeth looks at me quizzically, and I look back at her, just as confused.

"Hey man!" Leo leans on our table. "We saw you guys from outside and figured we'd come in. That is, of course, unless we're interrupting a daaate…"

"Leo!" Piper whacks his arm. "Shut up! Although I may admit, I'm curious about what magic spell was placed on the two of you to make you actually have a conversation without ripping each other's throats out…" She winks at Annabeth, who blushes.

"Aw, come on Pipes, don't tease them." Jason says, grinning at her.

Annabeth blinks, looking confused. "Forget Percy and I. Why the hell did he just call you Pipes?"

Piper turns bright red. Not wanting to get in the middle of a gossip circle, I intervene. "So pull up a chair, everybody."

The room echoes with screeches as the five of them take a seat. "Anyone care to explain what they're doing here instead of working on their leadership activities right now?" Annabeth asks, raising an eyebrow.

"The library closed early cause someone hacked into their security system and caused the fire alarm to go off every three minutes." Jason explained easily, leaning back in his chair.

"That someone was me!" Leo says proudly, raising his hand as if he was in school. "Anyways, the restaurant Drew and I got assigned to opens at three, so after we finished helping to make the food they let us have a break. But then Drew ditched me, so I ended up at the library."

"He made the fire alarm scream 'Leo, Leo, Leo' over and over again," Piper groans, punching Leo in the arm.

"Well," Travis says pointedly. "That's interesting and all, but what Katie-Cat and I did was much better."

"I didn't have a part in this!" Katie snapped, whirling around. "You were the idiot that thought it would be fun to set up a wheelchair race at a seniors centre, then make a betting pool for that race, and then run away when you stole all of the betting money and had an angry mob of elderly people chasing after you!"

"I'm guessing you got kicked out?" I raise an eyebrow, not at all surprised about how their experience went.

"No," Travis sulked. "I had to give the money back, and now they're making us work late."

"Mhmm, that's great," Annabeth glances around the room, looking distracted. "Hey, I gotta go to the washroom." She gives Piper and Katie a glance that I can't quite decipher before scurrying off, the other two girls right behind her.

"Why do girls always travel to the washroom in packs?" I ask aloud, but no one answers. I turn back around to find Leo, Jason, and Travis staring at me as if I was an alien. "…Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Dude," Jason shakes me by my shoulders. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Huh?" I'm completely lost now.

"About your crush on Annabeth!" Travis adds, and I choke on my Big Mac.

"What?" I splutter, glancing around quickly to make sure the girls haven't returned from the washroom yet. "Crush?"

"Your infatuation, passion, lust, obsession, craze…" Leo rattles off. "This is elementary stuff, man!"

"I know what a crush is," I clarify. "I'm just wondering why you think I have one on Annabeth."

As all three of them begin to list all of the reasons, I tune them out slightly, glancing around the restaurant. Do I like Annabeth? I mean yeah, she's pretty and feisty and witty, but she's not my type. But then I'm inevitably reminded of earlier today, when she talked to me in the daycare, and the time in the closet when she laid her hand on top of mine.

"So, do you like her?" Jason asks.

I pause for a second before answering. "I…"

"Percy!" Annabeth rushes out of the washroom, looking frazzled. "It's 12:55! We have to get back to the daycare now!"

She grabs my hand and pulls me out towards the street, pausing for a second to check the directions Chiron gave us earlier. As she does this, a tap on the window pulls me out of my stupor. Jason, Leo, and Travis stand pressed against the McDonalds window, grinning as they look at the dazed look at my face. Leo's holding up a place mat covered with what looks like words written on it in ketchup. Stepping closer to read it, I groan when I realize what it says.

_Dude, you've got it bad._

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

We dash back inside the daycare at 1:02, much to Annabeth's chagrin. Most of the kids are asleep, but a few are still playing with the racetrack I set up, I note proudly. As we enter, Rachel rushes up to us, a child clinging to one leg.

"I need help," She demands, pushing the kid towards Annabeth. "Here, look after him."

Annabeth takes the little boy, looking bewildered as Rachel drags both of us into the corner. "What's wrong?"

Rachel ignores her, turning towards me. "How many kids were there this morning?"

"Um, twenty-three, last I checked," I say, completely confused about what's going on.

"Oh my God," Rachel sinks to the floor. "Oh my God, Oh my God…"

I'm still bewildered, but Annabeth sits on the ground beside Rachel, the kid dangling precariously from her shoulders. "Just one, right? Boy or girl?"

"Huh? What's going on?" I ask, and both girls glance up as if noticing me for the first time.

"Percy, can you take Devin back to everyone else?" Annabeth passes the child to me. "Make sure all of them go to sleep please. Rachel and I need to talk."

"Um… okay?" I walk back to the rest of the kids. Since when has Annabeth voluntarily talked to Rachel? I mean, I know I'm not the brightest, but even I can tell there's some supressed hostility between the two of them. Placing Devin down on the mats they use for naptime, I gather up the last couple boys from the cars and make them lay down as well. Within minutes, the room has filled with the slow breathing of sleeping children. Glancing around, I notice that one of the pink mats in the corner isn't occupied. Each child has their own mat, meaning either someone's not asleep yet or is…

Suddenly, Rachel and Annabeth's strange conversation makes sense. I rush back to the corner where they're still talking in hushed voices. Rachel's eyes are puffy, like she's been crying, and Annabeth looks like she's about to start ripping her blonde hair out of her head.

"What kid is it?" I ask, and both of them glance up.

"Took you long enough to figure out," Annabeth laughs, but it sounds shaky. "It's Meghan, the little girl with the blonde hair. Rachel's already checked every nook and cranny here, but we realized that the back door was open because they were getting a delivery later…" She trails off, letting her words hang heavy in the air.

Meghan… I remember her. I had jokingly told Annabeth earlier that she was like a younger version of her, with the blonde curls and smart attitude. "So what you're saying is that there's a four year old running around this town with no adults to watch her?"

Rachel lets out a choked gasp, and Annabeth glares at me, clearly telling me to stop being so inconsiderate. "Alright, we need to go out and look. Rachel, can you stay here just in case she comes back?"

Rachel nods mutely, standing up. "Yeah, I can do that. Thanks."

Annabeth lets out a loud sigh. "Alright, let's hit the town. I think there's a candy store down the street- we'll check there first."

And with that, she sashays out the door, leaving me to follow, dumbfounded.

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

"Okay, so we've checked the candy store, the park, the merry-go-round, the mall, and the indoor playground," Annabeth sighs, rubbing her temples. "I honestly don't know where else to look."

"How about McDonalds again?" I suggest, my mouth still full of blue gummies from the candy store. "I mean, they have a play place, plus I'm really craving another Big Mac."

Annabeth rolls her eyes at my eating habits, but shrugs nonetheless. "Why not. I don't have anything better."

We head back into the McDonalds, making a beeline for the small playground in the corner. Once inside, Annabeth starts pulling off her shoes and socks. I stare at her in disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"Percy," Annabeth says slowly, as if talking to a three year old. "If you got lost and hid somewhere because you were terrified, would you come out when someone calls you, or continue hiding?"

I contemplate her question for a moment before ripping off my own shoes. "Point taken. But there's one slight problem- it says ages 10 and under only." I jerk my finger towards the sign in the corner, which clearly states the play place rules.

Before you accuse me of being a goody-two shoes, let me just state that I was doing this just as a precaution, just in case this thing couldn't hold us. But clearly Annabeth doesn't have this problem, as she gets down on her knees and begins to crawl into the entryway, leaning over in a way that makes it near impossible not to stare at her butt. Shaking my head, I crawl after her, keeping my eyes trained to the ground the way.

"Okay," Annabeth says once we reach the top. "Let's check the right side first."

We crawl around the space, calling out Meghan's name, to no avail. I swear loudly as I bump my head on yet another beam, wondering how the hell I managed to get myself into this mess. "Let's look in the slides now. If she's not there, then we'll go. I'm sick of this place. "

Annabeth nods in assent, and we begin to tackle the next obstacle- a rope tunnel. The second we both move on, the whole thing creaks ominously and I wince. "This can hold both of us, right?"

Surveying the ropes like a professional, Annabeth's face whitens. "Normally I would say yes, but it's missing a screw on this side. But as long as we move really slowly and add no extra weight

_Creak…_

I glance behind me and groan. The fattest kid I've ever seen is balancing precariously on the end of the rope tunnel, half a French fry sticking out of his mouth. He glares at me, moving farther into the tunnel as the creaking increases. "Come on, move it! Aren't you too old for this, anyways?"

"Aren't you too fat for this?" I retort, as the kid's beady eyes narrow.

"Percy!" Annabeth hisses, grabbing my arm. "Don't provoke him!"

I glance ahead of her, looking at the long stretch of rope before me. There's no way all three of us can stay on here at once.

"On the count of three, we're going to make a run for the end of the tunnel," I mutter under my breath. "Then, we quickly check the slides before booking it out of here. Just in case we don't- Meghan?" I glance down to the front of the play place, where Meghan is talking to a blonde man that looks vaguely familiar. I nudge Annabeth, who looks over with wide eyes.

"Stop flirting with your girlfriend and get a move on!" The fat kid shouts behind me, and I glare.

"First off, she's not my girlfriend. Secondly, even if she was, I would take my own sweet time doing it, fatso. And furthermore-"

I don't even get a chance to respond, because suddenly the kid stands up. Three more screws pop out of the tunnel as he looms, back hunched, as the structure beginning to creak louder. "I said, move it!" He growls, looking a lot bigger than before.

"Run!" I scream, pushing Annabeth through the tunnel, as the fat kid thunders after us as best as he can. All around me, I can hear screws falling free as employees begin to holler louder at everyone to clear the area. With a final leap, the kid tackles me just as I hear the telltale rip of fabric.

And with that, the three of us begin freefalling through the air, screaming our heads off.

I land first in the ball pit located underneath the now-destroyed rope tunnel with a thud, the air whooshing out of my lungs. Annabeth lands next, face down on top of me. My stomach heaves, and she pants out a "you okay?" before collapsing onto my chest. I have a moment to savour our closeness before-

_Wham!_

-the fat kid lands square on top of Annabeth. I'm inexplicably reminded of a game my friends and I used to play when we were younger, where everyone would pile on top of one individual in what we called a 'doggie pile'. This is kind of like that, only when I was younger it didn't consist of bony elbows (Annabeth) and mounds of flab (the other kid).

Play place workers begin swarming around, pulling everyone off of me. My lungs fill blissfully with air, before another shape comes hurtling towards me, knocking me square onto my back yet again. I glance up to see a tiny body, and mounds of blonde hair. Meghan.

"See! I told you that I saw them!" She announces happily to someone, hugging me tightly. I glance to my right to see Annabeth in the same predicament.

A man enters my line of vision, gently tugging Meghan off of us. "You did," He chuckles, holding out a hand to help me up. "Are you going to introduce me to your parents now?"

I nearly fall back into the ball pit from shock. Parents? Mind you, from an outsider's perspective, Meghan did look a lot like Annabeth, but she had green eyes, like me. Meaning now, as if our situation could get any worse, Annabeth and I looked like irresponsible parents that went inside a play place (and broke it) while their young child watched.

Glancing over at Annabeth, who looks just as flustered as me, I shake my head. "Oh no, we're not her parents. We're her-"

Thankfully, the man interjects, looking bored. "Never mind that. Is she going to get someplace safe?"

Annabeth nods. "Yes, but-"

"Then my work here is done," The man smiles cockily, and I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes. "I'm Luke Castellan, by the way." He hands us a small business card. The name sends a shock through me, as if I should recognize who that is, but I can't think of where I've heard it before.

Annabeth takes it gingerly. "Um, thanks, Luke. Now, if you'll excuse us, we really should get Meghan back."

And with that, the three of us dash out the door, ignoring any employees that try to come forth to talk to us about the bridge. Once outside, Annabeth sighs. "Well, that was embarrassing."

"Forget that, what about that Luke dude?" I rant, stuffing my hands into my pockets. "He seemed so egoistical and cocky and…"

"…a lot like you?" Annabeth finishes, smirking. "But seriously, thanks for all of your help today. You were actually a decent partner and without you, I probably would have never found Meghan."

Both of us glance forward at Meghan, who's picking some flowers up ahead. She waves at us, then goes back to her bouquet. Once again, I'm struck by the startling resemblance between us and her. "Um, you're welcome. You were a pretty great partner too." And beautiful, and witty, and amazing, I add silently.

"Which is why," Annabeth takes a deep breath. "If you want… I may be able to tolerate you being my friend."

I grin widely. "Is that your way of saying that you're falling head over heels in love with me?"

"I said friend, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth snaps, her cheeks red for some reason. "Now come on. It's getting late and Rachel's probably worried out of her mind."

She begins to walk a little faster, but I stay where I am, staring after her in shock. Annabeth and I are friends. That's what I wanted to happen. So then why am I feeling so let down?

* * *

**Can you guess I wrote most of this on my phone at the back of a McDonalds? ;)**

**I really hate this chapter, and I'm sorry that it was mostly a filler. But hey, you got some Percabeth at the very beginning and the end! They're friends now... how do you think everyone else at CHB is going to react to that?**

**Also, I know the backstories part was cliche and lame. Sorry :)**

**And about the fat kid and the McDonalds playplace thing... don't ask. It was really late and I had waaaay too much sugar. I'm not even sure if that's possible...**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**-Jace ;)**


	12. We Venture Into The Great Outdoors

****IMPORTANT A/N AT END. PLEASE READ****

**Once again, you all have managed to completely amaze me. 14 REVIEWS! Guys (and girls) I started crying when I saw my inbox. Literally. Thanks so much to all of you for your amazing and positive feedback!**

**These epic reviewers are... livvybelle23, Die Hard Fan PL, Cassidy Hunter of Artemis, PercyJackson is SeaweedBrain, Qwerty616120, MissSemi-Dependent, Guest, allen r, Supreme98, MidnightBoredom, and Ashley. Thanks so much to all of you!**

**Sorry this was more than a week between updates, but ya know... life. (worst excuse ever)**

**Now, onto the chapter! Enjoy...**

* * *

CHAPTER 12- WE VENTURE INTO THE GREAT OUTDOORS

ANNABETH

I know something's wrong the second I open my eyes.

There's sunlight streaming through the window, which wouldn't have been strange except for the fact that Chiron has woken us up at the crack of dawn every day up until now. I roll over onto my side and check the clock by my bedside. It reads 11 am.

"Annabeth?" Piper's voice, oddly groggy from sleep, sounds from her bunk. "You're up too?"

"I think we're the only ones," I reply, glancing around the room, which is still full of snoring girls. "Do you want to go and grab some breakfast?"

Without waiting for a response, I get out of bed and make my way over to the small cabin bathroom. After getting dressed and brushing my teeth, my eyes wander almost longingly towards Drew's makeup kit. I replay the scene from yesterday in my mind- Percy calling me beautiful just because I had a little bit of child-applied eye shadow on. If I was to wear just a smidge more…

My hands reach for the bag, and then suddenly I'm shuffling through its contents, swabbing globs of makeup onto my face.

"Are you almost done?" Piper's voice sounds from the other side of the door, and I drop the eyeliner I had been holding. "Some other people need to use it, you- whoa!"

She swings open the door, gaping openly. I tug on my shirt, feeling self-conscious. "So, what do you think?"

"Um…" Piper seems to be grasping for words. "Just out of curiosity, when's the last time you put on makeup by yourself?"

"Never, why?" I ask, shrugging. I barely ever wear makeup, and the last time I had to for my cousin's wedding, my aunt had applied it.

"Just… sit down," Piper pushes me back into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. "I'm going to try and.. um… clean this up a bit."

I sit there patiently, letting her polish off my face. After about five minutes, she steps back, looking pleased. "There."

A quick glance in the mirror shows me that she's wiped every inch of makeup off of my face, making it look as bad as it did when I first woke up. My heart sinks a little bit at the prospect, and I automatically berate myself. I've never been one to care about makeup; so why does it suddenly bother me so much? "Piper, what did you do?"

She has the decency to look abashed as we make our way out of the cabin. "No offense Annie, but you suck at applying makeup. As in I think Clarisse could do a better job than you. Why did you even try to put it on anyways? Did Drew say something?"

"No, not Drew," I say as nonchalantly as possible. "It was Percy."

"Percy called you ugly?" Piper's hands curl into fists as we walk into the empty dining pavilion. "I'm gonna murder him."

My cheeks turn fire-engine red as I think of yesterday's events. "Um.. it was actually kind of the opposite."

I'm not sure why I'm suddenly so shy about this. I mean, he was probably just doing it to get to me. But somehow… my feelings for that arrogant boy had changed yesterday when we were sitting at McDonalds. I no longer hated him with a passion, instead, I was willing to be his friend. The problem was, despite all of my brains, I couldn't figure out why.

"He called you beautiful?" Piper gasped, eyes wide. "Oh my Gods, I take back every bad thing I've ever said about that boy. You guys have to get together like, now!"

"And what about you and Jason?" I counter, smirking. During our 'washroom break' yesterday, Piper had confessed that she and Jason had become a lot closer and she may or may not have a crush on him (meaning she totally does). "I bet you guys are going to get together any day now."

"Yes, but the difference is, both Jason and I have already confessed that we like each other and- hey!" Piper glares at me. "You totally set me up for that one! Forget anything you just heard, okay?"

"I didn't set you up; you practically walked into that one," I retort. "Anyways, I was thinking…" My voice trails off as some of the boys walk into the room, all of them looking well-rested for once. Percy's near the back of the group, rubbing his eyes and yawning. To my utter astonishment, my heartbeat begins to quicken. I blame it on the heat.

"You were thinking what? Annie? Annabeth?" Piper snaps her hand in front of my face, and I realize I've zoned out. "Are you okay?"

Of course, it's that precise moment when Percy chooses to holler from across the room "Hey, best friend!"

I bury my head in my hands as Piper looks at me curiously. I was hoping Percy would keep the whole we're-not-enemies-in-fact-we're-now-friends thing on the down low, but obviously my wishes were not answered. By this point, Percy's comment has attracted the attention of almost everyone in the room, including Thalia, who has just slid into her seat.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" She inquires, raising one eyebrow suspiciously.

"Nothing!" I say all too quickly. Seeing their disbelieving glances, I frown. "I just realized that I didn't hate him as much as I used to." That's a partial truth, but it's the story I'm going to keep on telling. Quite frankly, I don't think anyone would believe me if I told them what actually happened.

"Mhmm." Piper looks at me unconvincingly just as Chiron finally takes the podium. He's dressed in a leaf-patterned shirt and has a pair of black binoculars around his neck. I realize with a sinking feeling what we must be doing.

"We are going on a hike!" Yep, called that.

The room breaks out into chatter, some excited to venture into the great outdoors, some terrified of all of the creatures that lurk inside the forest. Chiron holds up a hand for silence and instantly the voices die. "Thank you. Anyways, as I was saying, all of you are going on a hike. However, since I am unable to participate because of my condition, and Mr. D has some…er… personal issues to take care of-"

"-meaning he's hung over-" Thalia mutters under her breath.

"-the twenty of you will be venturing in there alone." Chiron finishes.

This causes another ripple of conversation amongst the campers, and then Percy shouts out "What about the counselors?"

"The counselors are needed elsewhere," Chiron says firmly. "Now, I need all of you to pack a knapsack for all the things you need to survive the 'great outdoors'. What you choose will be a great aspect to your safety and therefore your survival, although you will not be marked on this."

"He's taking this pretty seriously," Piper comments under her breath, kaleidoscopic eyes wide. "I mean, survival? We're taking a little hike!"

I nod, even though I'm admittedly not really listening. For some reason, Chiron's warning (if you could even call it that) scares me, although I'm not quite sure why.

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

I pick my heavy knapsack up off my bunk, groaning under its weight as I sling it onto my shoulder. Once everyone got dismissed to go back to their cabins, I had rushed around packing everything even mildly related to the outdoors or survival. Call me crazy, but I don't think this hike is going to be as easy as everyone is making it out to be. Unfortunately, being prepared also means that I have to lug this five-pound backpack around the woods.

Thalia glances over from where she's stuffing her iPod into her almost empty knapsack, smirking as she sees me struggling. "Packed too much, Warrior Princess?"

I stick out my tongue like the mature person I am. "You'll see who's smiling when we get attacked by a bear and I'm the only one who has supplies." Granted, it's horrible logic, but I had to find some way to make my completely irrational claim sound a little more… rational.

"What about when the bear steals your backpack because he can smell all of the food you have in there?" Piper smirks, joining the conversation as we begin to walk to the edge of the forest. "Cause honestly Annie, I could smell it from across the room."

I ignore her jab and point to the fanny pack around my waist. "I'll have emergency resources in here, just in case anything happens." Like I said before, I was extremely prepared.

"Yes, let's give this hypothetical bear an excuse to maul your stomach to get to his next snack." Thalia mutters just as we reach the group.

"What's this about mauling stomachs?" Percy walks over to us, and for one split second it seems like he's going to hug me. We both pause, however, and end up doing a very awkward high-five, in which I accidentally elbow him in the side and he whacks his arm on my backpack. Piper and Thalia watch this whole exchange curiously, smirking the whole while.

"Nothing," I explain, blushing. "Thalia was just saying that if our hypothetical bear smelt food in my fanny pack, it would maul my stomach, which will _not happen_." I glare at her, and she raises her hands in mock defense.

"Well," Percy says simply. "If a bear tried to maul you, I would attack the bear before it could lay a claw on you." He strikes a pose like a knight, holding aloft an imaginary sword. Piper and Thalia laugh, but I just stand there, dumbfounded.

Even though Percy was obviously joking, I still feel my heart dance around in quick little flutters, pounding out a rhythm I couldn't quite figure out. "Um… thanks." I manage to mutter, feeling my cheeks turn bright red for the thousandth time this week.

At this point, Chiron arrives to see us off, and has begun to usher kids into the woods. I join the fray with my friends, my face still tinted pink. Chiron waves to each person as they leave, reminding us that to stick together all the while. His face looks sad, which strikes me as a bit odd. Again, I think of his warning at breakfast, and involuntarily my whole body stiffens.

Percy looks at me in alarm, obviously seeing my change in posture. "You alright?" He places a hand on my arm and my body straightens even more at his touch.

I nod, just as we reach Chiron. "Yeah, fine. Just a little nervous."

"Have fun Mr. Jackson, Miss Chase," Chiron nods Percy and I respectively as we pass. "Be good, won't you?" He adds with a knowing wink.

I glance at him blankly, wondering why he would specifically only tell the two of us to be good… oh. _Oh. _I glance at Percy's hand, which is still on my arm, and then our body language- close and protective. It definitely seemed like we were- Gods forbid- dating. "Oh, but we aren't…" I trail off as Thalia pushes me forward, smirking.

"Don't worry Chiron, I'll supervise these lovebirds," She grins widely, bursting into laughter the second we're out of earshot. "Oh, that was classic."

I glare at her, my face now permanently tomato-coloured. "That wasn't funny, Thals."

"Really? Cause I found it hilarious!" Piper added, giggling. "Oh my Gods.. I never imagined Chiron would have done that!"

I roll my eyes and glare at them, but there's no real force behind it. "Come on, let's keep walking."

Everyone walks in silence for a bit, except for the occasional thump as one of us trips over a log. The forest is actually quite beautiful, with tall trees and lots of wildlife. Birdcalls fill the air, and the occasional ray of sunlight breaks through the thick tree canopy every once in a while, illuminating our path with a sort of hazy glow. At the back of the line, Drew begins to complain, and soon the Stoll brothers join in as well, even though their whines are half-hearted. I tune them out, focusing only on the beauty around me. Yet, at the same time, I wonder why Chiron would have sent us on this hike. I mean, sure, it's pretty, but there's no real leadership skills involved.

Only seconds after I have this thought, a shout echoes from the front of the line. I rush up, Percy by my side, just in time to see Clarisse ripping off a piece of paper taped to a tree. She reads through it quickly and scowls, balling up the paper and chucking it at the ground.

Curiously, I pick up the paper and begin to read it aloud, my tone growing more frantic with each word. "Even though it's only Day 5 of your leadership quest, the final task has begun. Follow this map and work together. Good luck."

Percy frowns, flipping the paper over to reveal a colourful map. "It's a whole bunch of stations. A couple for each day, I'm guessing, and ones to sleep at as well."

The map begins to be passed around, the collective noise growing louder as more people see its contents. I look at Percy somewhat frantically. "Chiron's insane. There's no way this is legal! And we might be trampled by some wild animal… or drowned in the river… or trampled by our hypothetical bear!" Yes, I'm being irrational, but I've never been one for the great outdoors.

Percy shushes me, glancing around the group. "Quite honestly, I think we're the sanest people here at the moment, so I would appreciate it if you kept your spazzing inside your head. Let's make it to the first station, and then we can sneak off into the woods and continue this properly."

"Continue what in the woods properly?" Thalia asks, sneaking up behind us. I groan. How does she always manage to show up at the worst times? "You know, I was hoping I wouldn't have to listen to Chiron's instructions, but right now it seems like you two definitely need a chaperone."

I roll my eyes but turn away from Thalia to face the rest of our cluster. "Okay, so I assume by now everyone's seen the map. It looks like we only have one station to get to today, and we'll sleep over there. On approximately Day 9, we'll arrive back at camp. Any questions?"

"What about food?" Travis calls from the group.

"Well," Piper says, smirking. "Annabeth here packed about enough food to feed a whole army, so we should be fine. Just in case though, if you have any granola bars or water or even gum, speak up now, so that we can properly ration our choices."

Everyone begins to chime in now, placing a pile of snack food and water in the centre of our group. Percy pulls a pack of beef jerky out of his pocket, and even Drew produces a pack of mint gum. I smile inwardly as I begin counting everything. It's only been about two hours and everyone's already working together well.

"Okay!" Percy shouts, standing up from where he was sorting granola bars. "I only did a quick check, but we should be fine as long as no one overeats. So now I'm going to suggest we let Annabeth come up with a plan to get us to the first station quickly, because I'm guessing no one else has any clue what to do."

"You're just volunteering her cause she's your girlfriend." Clarisse mutters, but I notice she doesn't step up to take my place.

Ignoring Clarisse's irrational protests, I grab the map and begin looking over the quickest route. It's about four in the afternoon right now, meaning we have around three hours or so to get to the first station before sunset. A quick glance at my map proves that we'll have to take the most hilly route in order to get there on time.

After relaying this instruction to everyone else, I begin the hike. Within minutes, everyone's groaning. Percy walks up to me, grabbing my hand nonchalantly. I freeze up almost instinctively, and he quickly drops it, looking unperturbed.

"Good job back there with everyone," Percy comments, swinging his hand listlessly, as if he's not sure what to do with it now that I had rebuffed his proposal to hold it. My heart clenches a little bit, and I find myself reaching out for his hand now, clasping it in my own. Percy glances at me in surprise, and I just shrug, giving his hand a little squeeze. He squeezes back, and we spend the next three hours just walking up like that, soft palms pressed together as we feel our pulses pounding in unison.

After what seems like forever, all twenty of us finally reach the first stop, hot and tired and completely out of breath. I toss my heavy backpack off of my shoulders, finally unlatching my hand from Percy's. Thalia raises an eyebrow from behind me, noticing this, but I merely shrug and begin to pull my four water canteens out of my bag and pass them around. My eyebrows furrow together when I realize that just on the walk here, we've already finished off one container. There's no way that we're going to survive the rest of this challenge with just three bottles.

The first station is a small clearing with some sleeping bags in one corner and a large pile of wood and matches in another. Some of the boys have already begun to build a fire in the small pit located in the centre of the space, striking the wood with waterproof matches. I have to hand it to Chiron- this idea may be insane, but it was very well-organized.

After there's a small but growing fire, everyone begins to gather around as I pass out granola bars and Leo hands out a somewhat stale bag of chips he had in his bag. Percy and Jason also begin to roast some beef jerky, which tastes surprisingly good even when it's charred. That's followed by insane campfire songs led by the Stolls, and a really creepy ghost story told by Nico, whom the group has now nicknamed 'Ghost King'. In a weird way, it's like some bizarre camping trip with people you don't necessarily like, but end up tolerating after a while.

And I'd be lying through my teeth if I say I don't actually enjoy it here.

* * *

**And with that, I leave you for approximately two weeks. **

**Confused? Allow me to explain...**

**Well, simply, I'm going on vacation. And the place has no wi-fi, so I won't be able to update. I'm not bringing my laptop either, so I won't even be able to write. I might type a bit on my e-reader, but it's so freaking slow that I don't think I'll be able to get much done. Plus, I'm on vacation, meaning I should probably be relaxing instead of writing fanfiction. And after that, the next week I have orientation for high school so I'm not sure how much writing I'll be able to get done. I promise I'll update at least once more before August finishes, though!  
**

**Also, sometime in this whole mess is my birthday. Care to give me a review as a present? We're sooooo close to 100 I can taste it... that sounded weird.**

**So, how'd you like this chapter? The idea of a group of kids getting lost in the woods was originally the foundation for this story, based on my own experiences (not this extreme, don't worry). Plus, you got Percabeth hand holding and everyone working together and Thalia having to chaperone Percy and Annabeth... tell me what you think!**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: Guess where I'm going on vacation! Whoever's closest will get a sneak peek of the next chapter! Hint: it's hot...**


	13. We Face Some Fears

**I'm baaa-aaack! Did you miss me? 'Cause I certainly missed all of you! My vacation was great, by the way. Lots of cute boys, big pool, no responsibility... ahhh, it was bliss. And then I came back and was greeted with over a hundred emails, courtesy of fanfiction. All of your kind words and positive comments and epic birthday wishes... I know a lot of authors say this, but you guys truly are the best readers ever.**

**And those best readers ever happen to be these epic people: PercyJackson is SeaweedBrain, Die Hard Fan PL, altec1, littlemixlover17, MissSemi-Dependent, kit catt luvs percy j, livvybelle23, SociallyAwkward14174, OlympusGrl, emily, Guest, Ashley and Supreme98. Thank you all for your vacation/birthday wishes and epic reviews!**

**As well, aghgjwhdijn we reached 100 reviews! Or, 107 to be exact. When I first started this, my overall goal for the finished story was 100 and now, at Chapter 13, we've passed it. Hugs and mega-huge thanks to all!**

**Guys, you have no freaking clue how hard it was to get this chapter out to you all. This is the product of late nights, early mornings, a fair bit of tears and the fact that I existed for a week on green tea and five hours of sleep. So if it isn't my best, I apologize, but I think it turned out pretty well (if I do say so myself). Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

CHAPTER 13- WE FACE SOME FEARS (AND GET SOAKED IN THE PROCESS)

PERCY

"Quick, pass me the phone!"

"Why don't you just use yours?"

"Cause you dropped it in the lake, idiot!"

"Shut up, you two! I think he's waking up!"

The sound of arguing shakes me out of my slumber, causing me to groan as I realize where I am. Yesterday's events come back to me in a blur, and all of the sudden my eyes flutter open, only to be greeted with the sight of blonde curls spread haphazardly over my face. One of my arms is asleep from a person lying on it, and a small head is resting on my chest, right the top of it brushing my chin.

In short, Annabeth fell asleep on me. And from the sounds of it, it seems our friends have decided to turn it into an impromptu photo shoot.

I gently pry her body off of mine and sit up, glaring at Jason, Piper and Leo, who are all crowded in front of me. A quick glance around proves that they're the only ones up so far- the rest of our group is still passed out around the clearing.

"Really?" I demand, my voice still croaky from sleep. "What, are you guys just going around snapping random pictures of people while they're snoring? That's kinda borderline stalkerish, don't you think?"

"In all fairness, Jason and I just woke up," Piper clarifies, holding up her hands. "But Leo's been up since the crack of dawn, so he's got pictures of"-here she begins to scroll through the picture library-"… a lot of embarrassing couples." She finishes, cheeks bright red. I take that to mean Jason and her have quite a few candid shots themselves.

I glare at Leo as I stand up, careful not to jostle the still-sleeping Annabeth. "Really dude? How'd you even manage to wake up so early?"

Last night had turned into a spur-of-the-moment party of a sort, with everyone pigging out on snacks and singing stupid campfire songs. A week ago that would be the kind of party I would run away from as if my life depended on it, but somehow I found myself enjoying it. Long story short, it ran a bit late and we all passed out immediately afterwards. Evidently, somewhere in that time Annabeth and I had managed to fall asleep directly next to one another, explaining our awkward position this morning.

"He grabbed a can of Monster from his backpack," Jason groans, rubbing his temples. "Just be glad you weren't up when he was singing Christmas carols."

As hushed as our conversation was, it wasn't quite quiet enough, for Annabeth suddenly yawns loudly, her eyes flickering open. She smiles sleepily at all of us, standing up and wrapping her thin sleeping bag around her shoulders. "Morning."

We mumble half-hearted responses back as Annabeth begins to walk over to the pile of backpacks and grabs a handful of granola bars. She tosses one at each of us with the precision of a two-year old (which is to say none), before beginning to shake the others awake.

I walk over to help, placing a hand on the small of her back. Annabeth jumps and tenses like she did yesterday, and I quickly withdraw my hand, cursing inwardly. Call me crazy, but I've never had an actual friend who was a girl. It's always just been girlfriends when it comes to the female species. That meant that I was treating Annabeth kind of like an experiment, as bad as that sounds, seeing what my boundaries were. So far, physical contact seemed to be a big no-no, except for on the hike yesterday, when we had held hands and she didn't seem to mind.

After everyone was semi-conscious, Thalia walks over to the discarded fire from yesterday, crunching the embers underneath her combat boots. "Alright, listen up!" She shouts, glancing at the map. "The next station looks like it's right next to a lake, and it should take us maybe until lunchtime to get there, which means more hiking."

Groans resonate around the group as Thalia frowns, obviously not anymore pleased with this predicament than anyone else. Drew steps up from the group, pouting. "But why?" She whines. "This is so stupid! Why don't we just head back to camp?"

Grover, to my utmost surprise, comes forward. "Because that idea sucks and some of us actually want to pass." He says plainly, his cheeks flushed from the power of what he just said. I can't help but think that it may be the first time he's ever stood up to anyone in his life.

Drew blushes and shuts up, stepping back into the mass of kids. I clear my throat, causing the group to glance over at me. "Unless anyone has any other complaints, we should get a move on. It's almost ten in the morning already, and this hike looks pretty rough."

No one else speaks up, so I shoulder my backpack and begin to walk into the forest, everyone else trailing behind me. Annabeth seems to be pretty engrossed in a conversation with Thalia, and Jason's with Piper, so I decide to walk with Grover today. He looks a bit surprised to see me, and I realize with a pang that I'd been disregarding most of my cabin lately.

"You handled Drew pretty well," I comment, not sure what else to say.

"Thanks," Grover mutters, a genuine but small smile spreading across his face. "Quite honestly, I didn't know I had it in me."

I laugh as we begin to head into thicker forest. "Yeah, you never realize it until you have to."

Grover nods, his eyes vacant. "He's never done this before, you know." He blurts out quickly, and I stare at him in confusion.

"What?" I glance at him, gesturing for him to elaborate.

"Chiron," Grover sighs, slowing down a bit. "Look, remember how I told you I've been here before?"-he continues without waiting for a response-"Well, normally we just have lessons and workshops. We've never done anything even remotely close to this. I mean, this is kind of insane!"

I nod, although my mind is running a thousand miles an hour as I think about Grover's words. "So either Chiron's making us do this because we're the worst group he's ever seen…"

"…or the best," Grover finishes for me. "Quite honestly, the last time I was here it was way different. I mean, people became leaders, but there wasn't a few that stood out more than the others- people who everyone wondered how they managed to get sent to this place. People like you and Annabeth."

"Why just the two of us?" I demand, shooting Grover a glance. "Everyone here's becoming leaders!"

Admittedly though, when I really think about it, no one but Annabeth or I had been doing anything that really qualified as leadership. Don't get me wrong- everyone at this camp had already improved greatly, but they kind of follow us like a herd of sheep. It kind of makes me wonder what they'd do if we weren't around to guide them, as egoistical as that sounds.

Just as Grover is about to respond, a shriek echoes from the back of the group. Everyone turns automatically to glance behind them, only to see Annabeth hyperventilating on the ground. Thalia and Piper stand on either side of her, trying to console her, but from what I don't know.

I rush over and drop to my knees beside them, the rest of the group on my heels. "What's wrong?" I demand, a hint of worry creeping into my voice. I find it kind of ironic that a couple of days ago, I would have been making a wisecrack and completely ignoring her, yet now I'm by her side immediately. Then again, a couple of days ago I didn't have these nonexistent 'feelings' about her everyone keeps on going on about.

Annabeth glances up at me, her face tearstained. It scares me more than I let on. "Spiders." She whispers, glancing to the trees around us, which I realize now are covered in small black spiders.

"They aren't poisonous, don't worry." I soothe her, not quite understanding how spiders could be scaring her this much.

"It's not the fact that they're poisonous or not that scares her," Piper says, batting away any spiders that dare venture near us. "It's just… a bad spider experience."

"Oh," I blink, looking confused. "Like how when I was young, I thought I saw a dragon and peed myself?"

Annabeth lets out a somewhat choked laugh. "Seaweed Brain. No, not like that at all. I'm… I'm okay now, though."

Thalia nods and stands up, brushing dirt from her jeans. "Alright, you heard the woman. She's okay, so let's get a move on, people!"

The group starts moving again, albeit slowly, all of them muttering underneath their breath. I was almost 99% sure I knew exactly what every single one of their conversations was about. Thalia and Piper walk off as well, obviously trying to give the two of us a bit of privacy, for which I am grateful.

"You okay?" I ask, holding out a hand to help Annabeth up. She takes it gladly, not dropping it even when she's back on her feet.

Annabeth nods shakily, brushing a few stray tears from the corners of her eyes. "Yeah. I feel like an idiot for having such a meltdown about spiders in front of everyone though. It's such an irrational phobia."

I shrug as we begin walking yet again. "So what? Everyone has fears sometimes. Quick question though- why do spiders freak you out so much?"

My hand suddenly gets dropped as Annabeth takes a step away from me. "I don't want to tell you just yet." She says softly, walking until she's caught up with Thalia and Piper. I frown, admittedly a little hurt, but understand why she doesn't want to tell me yet. If Annabeth wants to keep it private, then I'm going to respect that.

You know, it's times like these I realize just how much the camp has changed me.

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

The hike continues for what seems like forever, all of the hills and trees looking the exact same. I don't understand how people find hiking so enjoyable. I mean yeah, it's nice for the first fifteen minutes, but then you realize just how heavy your backpack is and how much your feet hurt and how freaking boring trees are.

Evidently, I'm one of the only people having these pessimistic thoughts. Up ahead, Grover and Juniper and talking about some rare tree, and Frank and Hazel are collecting pinecones as we go. Annabeth is with the rest of the girls, listening as Katie explains endangered plants. Even Jason's flirting with Piper by using- guess what- a flower.

Meaning I'm pretty much all alone, which for once doesn't bother me. It gives me some time to think (I know, shocker), about a few things that have been bugging me. Namely Annabeth and the growing feelings I'm beginning to have about her.

See? There, I admitted it. I, Percy Jackson, like Annabeth Chase. The only problem is the fact that up until three days ago, I was a rude and obnoxious brat towards her (and the rest of the world, for that matter). And I still kind of am. I mean, it's kind of hard to change something you've been your entire life. I'm used to girls falling at my feet without having to even bat an eye, not being the one falling in front of the girl and having her kick me away.

I'd be lying if I said it doesn't freak me out just a tiny bit.

We reach the next station at this point, shaking me out of my thoughts. We're at the edge of a decent sized lake, next to a large pile of canoes. There's another note taped to the closest one, which simply reads 'Pair up and don't forget your life jackets'.

"We're supposed to survive in a freaking forest for four days and he's worried about life jacket safety?" Clarisse grumbles, but slips the largest vest over her head. Everyone else follows suit, until we all have the bulky life vest on.

"It looks like we're going to be canoeing for the rest of the afternoon," Travis remarks, tracing his finger over a path on the map. "So everyone should pair up with someone that they know could help them for the entire afternoon. Katie?"

He glances hopefully towards her, and I tune them out as they begin bickering. Walking over to Annabeth, I tap her on the shoulder and she whirls around, letting out a little squeak. "Partners?" I ask hopefully, trying to calm my racing heartbeat.

Annabeth nods, smiling. "Sure. Just a warning, though- I've never been canoeing before in my entire life."

"Well, neither have I, so I guess it's a new experience for both of us." I grin, grabbing a boat and dragging it into the water like most of the other campers were. When in doubt, follow others, right?

When both of us were both seated inside the canoe, I reach for a paddle and almost whack Annabeth in the back of her head. She laughs, placing her paddle in the water and pulling it backwards with the air of someone who has no clue what the hell they're doing. I follow suit, pushing the boat away from the shore just a smidge. We begin moving, and I grin. This is actually pretty easy.

Suddenly, the boat begins to turn back towards the shore, and I glance over at Annabeth worriedly. "What did you do?"

"I'm just paddling!" She splutters, placing lifting her paddle out of the water, as the boat begins turning back around again. "We're going in circles!"

"No duh!" Piper laughs as she paddles by with Jason. They're going straight across the water, to my surprise. "You have to put one paddle on either side of the boat, and then row like that. Haven't you guys done this before?"

"No," Annabeth admits, looking ashamed that she didn't figure out how to do this before. She switches her paddle to the other side of the boat, and instantly we start moving forwards. "Hey, this is pretty easy!"

I glide my paddle through the lake in silence for a long while, feeling at ease. This is so much easier than hiking, and a lot more relaxing too. That is, until droplets of water start hitting me. I glance up at the sky, but it's still clear and light blue, with only a few puffy white clouds floating around. That means that the source of the water has to be…

"Hey!" I protest, whirling around as more droplets hit my back. Annabeth's shaking her paddle behind me, smirking as she realizes how wet I am.

"Enjoying the canoeing, Seaweed Brain?" She smiles, but it turns into a scowl when I pick up a small bucket from the floor of the boat, fill it with lake water, and toss it at her. Annabeth glances up, the left side of her hair plastered to her head. "Oh, you are so dead."

And with that, a full out water war starts. The canoe begins to rock precariously, but neither one of us take any notice as we begin to pelt the other until we're both thoroughly soaked. We'll definitely be paying the price for our fun later when the sun sets and we're left with sopping wet clothes, but right now neither of us care.

I stand up in the canoe, ignoring how it begins to sway harder. Dumping another bucket of water on Annabeth's head, I begin to walk over towards her. She picks up her sopping wet paddle and holds it out in front of her mock-threatingly. I lunge at her, and she jokingly swings the paddle towards me.

Several things happen at once just then. One, Annabeth's paddle hits me square in the chest and I go flying backwards. Two, Annabeth falls flat on her back from the impact, bumping against the back of the canoe. And three, our canoe finally gives up on us and flips, sending both of us careening into the water.

Laughter begins to sound from around us as everyone else realizes what just happened to us. I kick upwards, coughing, and am surprised to realize I can touch the bottom. In the heat of our water war, neither Annabeth or I had noticed that the canoes had almost reached the shore. I tug our boat towards land, water dripping off of my hair.

Annabeth hoists her soaking wet backpack out of the lake and frowns at me jokingly. "I blame you."

"What did I do?" I protest, as everyone finally reaches shore.

"You got me soaked!" Annabeth laughs, squeezing water out of her very wet- and need I mention tight- shirt.

I force myself to focus on something other than that, glancing around as the last stragglers unload their canoes. I can't help but remember the last time everyone was in the water, and how similarly today ended. The only difference this time is our reactions were much, much different this time.

"You started it!" I retort childishly as we all begin to walk through the woods.

We continue this banter all throughout our next, much shorter hike, until finally we arrive at the night's rest station. Unlike last time, everyone heads straight to work, dividing up chores and stoking the fire as if we'd all been working together for years. It's nice, for once, to see everyone coming together and working as a team.

After a quick dinner (tonight it's crackers and trail mix), Annabeth walks over to the food pile with a frown on her face. "We only have enough for one more day," She comments, poking the pile. It looks a lot smaller than it did yesterday. "I'll bet Chiron left us food at the next station."

Clarisse grunts, walking over next to Annabeth. "I hope so. I mean, the idiot wouldn't starve us, right?"

If I'm surprised that Clarisse is being decently nice towards Annabeth, I don't show it. It seems like this trip is making everyone closer. I mean, even Drew was pitching in to help hand out food earlier, and I caught Octavian carrying some extra logs to the fire when no one was watching.

"We'll ration it tomorrow," Piper promises, lying down on her dry sleeping bag. I think of my own soaked bag, wet from my trip into the lake, and frown. "But right now, I think everyone could really use some sleep."

"And by everyone, you mean you," Leo counters, laying down beside Piper. "G'night, everybody."

There's a chorus of muffled "goodnights" as everyone begins settling down to sleep. Annabeth and I lie on the hard ground, shivering, as evidently our sleeping bags are out of commission. She doesn't even ask before curling up into my side, and I smile at how comfortable we've become around one another.

"We make pretty good leaders, don't you think?" Annabeth mumbles, her voice slurring as she begins to doze off.

I take a chance and leave a feather-light kiss on her cheek before responding. "Yeah, I guess we do."

* * *

***grins like a maniac* Did you like the end? Didyoudidyoudidyou? This chapter is nothing more than fluff, but I foreshadowed as well a fair bit because after all, nothing can stay happy for long... *insert dramatic music***

**This is my last update before I delve into the messy realm known as 9th Grade (any high school advice you have would be greatly appreciated!), so quite honestly I'm not sure when I'll update next. My classes this semester are all relatively easy though, so an update may be out within the next two weeks, but I wouldn't depend on it. But hey, I updated before the end of August as promised, so who's to say I can't pull that off?**

**Until then,**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: For the question last chapter, the answer was Jamaica! Congrats to everyone who got the sneak peek!**

**PPS: This chapter's question: as mentioned above, high school advice is greatly appreciated. If you're too young to give that out, just say some back-to-school advice in general. Thanks!**


	14. Everything Goes Downhill

***looks at calendar* Two weeks and two days since my last update. Not bad, not bad at all. Especially considering the fact that I'm drowning under massive piles of homework that have made having a social (let alone a fanfiction) life very, very difficult. And to top it all off, my laptop broke and only got fixed today. **

**Thanks for all of the awesome high school advice last chapter! I'm really enjoying it so far, aside from all of the homework, the terrifying Grade 12's, and this douchebag in my Drama class (long story). But other than that, it's really fun! So, big hugs go out to Qwerty616120, thestoryreader99, MissSemi-Dependent, Darth Crusty, allen r, Die Hard Fan PL, Supreme98, and MidnightBoredom. Thanks to you all!**

**WARNING: Due to the fact that there's a ton of pissed-off people in this chapter (plus I was rather mad when I wrote it), there is moderate language in this chapter. Ages 12+, probably.**

**And with that lovely message, let the chapter begin!**

* * *

CHAPTER 14- EVERYTHING GOES DOWNHILL

ANNABETH

There's a cold draft next to me when I wake up, meaning Percy's already awake. My clothes are stiff from the lake, and I have to dust damp leaves off of my pants as I stand up. Percy's over by our small fire from last night, building it back up with more force than I thought necessary.

"Wake everyone else up," He says bitterly, and I wince at his harsh tone. "Something's happened."

I nod, admittedly a bit worried about why he's acting like this. Within minutes everyone is awake and standing around the fire Percy's managed to bring back to life. They all look just as confused as I, huddling together in groups as cold morning air washes over us.

"Dude, what time is it?" Nico yawns, running a hand through his messy hair. "The sun isn't even up yet!"

"It's seven am," Piper informs him, checking her watch. "So what'd you drag us all out- wait, where's Drew?"

Percy doesn't answer but his scowl deepens as he jams yet another stick into the fire. If he keeps this up, we're going to have a forest fire on our hands. I approach him hesitantly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Clarisse, Chris, Octavian, and Drew ditched," Percy says almost monotonously. "They took most of the supplies and the map. Meaning we have no food, no way of getting out, nothing."

Thalia says some words that can't be repeated, and pretty soon Katie and Piper join her. The majority of the boys race over to our mediocre food pile last night, which has now diminished into a tiny hill that probably won't last for more than a couple hours, a day at most. General pandemonium begins, bitter words flying and desperate attempts to find more food dashing around us.

I gape at Percy, not believing what he's saying. "But… but… we were all getting along so well last night!"

"Yeah, because they were planning to leave!" Percy snaps, and I step back, shocked at his tone. His face softens almost immediately, and he sighs. "Sorry. It's just… everything was going so well. I thought we actually had a chance of succeeding."

Something about the tone of his voice, the helpless look on his face, makes me walk closer to him again. "You're not doing this because you're sick of the camp and want to leave anymore, are you?" I ask, realization dawning on my face. "You actually care now about if you pass or not!"

"You don't need to shout it," Percy rubs the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. "But yes, that is the reason. Doesn't matter anymore, though." He adds, the bitter look returning to his face.

I sigh, not wanting to join in on his pity party. "I'm going to see what the rest of them are up to. You can come over when you stop sulking." I feel like I'm talking to a five-year old, but given Percy's average maturity level that's hardly a stretch.

Walking over to the rest of them, I take a seat on a mossy log in between Thalia and Grover, both of which look thoroughly dejected.

"We have enough food to last until dinner," Thalia says sulkily, jabbing her thumb in the direction of a couple granola bars and a bottle of water. "After that we're on our own. Damn Drew and her stupid little minions!"

"Minions remind me of Despicable Me!" Leo pipes up, and I look at him quizzically, as does everyone else in the group.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Travis, to my utmost surprise, snaps.

"Calm down!" Piper stands up and walks up to Travis, eyes blazing.

"Don't gang up on my brother!" Connor joins in. Sensing a fight, I begin to walk towards them, but words have already started flying all over the place.

"Yeah, well-"

"-oh, you did not just go there!"

"Why are you blaming-"

"You're being so stupid!"

"Quiet," A voice sounds from the back of the group. It's not a yell, but it's said with such force behind it that almost everyone stops and stares almost immediately. Percy's walking towards the group, his fingers wedged through his belt loops as he rocks back and forth. "All of your guys are acting like complete and total assholes right now, which makes you no better than the very people that ditched us.

"Why don't we think of it this way- we've weeded out the 'bad seeds' now, so to speak. Now we're a group of pretty great individuals that were all sent to this camp for a reason, and so help me, we're going to get out of this freaking forest if it kills us all." He blushes suddenly, looking embarrassed. "That was so a Disney Channel-worthy speech. I'm losing my touch."

"Only I've yet to hear Disney Channel use the words asshole or freaking in any of their speeches," Jason jokes, and suddenly the group's back to normal, talking and laughing. There's still unanswered tension in the air though, and I know it's going to boil over eventually.

I'm just scared about when that is.

After eating our most meager breakfast yet- half a granola bar and three sips of water per person- we begin drawing the map into the ground the best we can, placing stations completely off of memory. Katie, who we've deemed the best artist in the whole group, is feverishly sketching in the forest outlines while we all call out suggestions to her.

Finally, we're left with the final product- four lines and a whole bunch of dots scattered in a seemingly random pattern. It doesn't resemble the map at all.

"Well, this sucks," Thalia sighs, plopping down on top of the crude 'map' and kicking it with her combat boots, sending dust everywhere. "I vote we pick a random direction and go that way."

"I second that!" Leo pipes up.

I rub my temples, where a throbbing headache is beginning to form. "Guys, we can't just go running off into the forest. There's lots of creatures out there that could be dangerous."

"What, like the hypothetical bear?" Piper smirks. "Annie, all we've seen so far are a few chipmunks. This is the safest woods I've ever seen in my life! If anything, all of the noise these idiots make would scare any animal away."

"Besides, we have no other options." Percy says, and I glare at him for jumping on the bandwagon.

"Can I pick the direction? Can I can I can I?" Thalia asks, acting more animated than I've ever seen her. At my nod, she begins spinning around in circles until she finally points to a random passageway. "There! Ooops…"

She trips over nothing, bumping into Percy with enough force to send him flying into me, both of us collapsing to the ground. Percy's on top of me, his green eyes inches from my grey ones.

"Hi," He whispers awkwardly, his warm breath tickling my nose. "What's up?"

I laugh, which is strange because I can feel Percy's body reacting to the noise. "Um, nothing. Do you think you could get off me anytime soon?"

In the distance, I can hear someone whispering "take a picture!", but it seems far off, as if the rest of the world has ceased to exist and only the two of us remain.

Percy pouts, which looks even cuter close up. "But I like it here! You're so warm… I want to just lie like this forever."

Even though I'm sure blushing isn't the most attractive thing to do when you're inches away from someone else, both of our faces turn bright red as we process Percy's words. I'm debating whether to close the gap between our mouths when suddenly a shadow steps into view.

"Just lie like that or do something else?" Thalia grins like the Cheshire Cat. "You seem to have forgotten that there's other people here. Come on." She hauls Percy to his feet, leaving me to get up by myself.

Walking under the shade of trees that obviously were a lot older than I, in perfect solitude (or as close to solitude as I would ever get), I found it necessary to diagnose some of my actions not only in the past couple of minutes, but in the last couple of days. Percy had changed me, and I had changed him, for sure. But now my question is- what was the reason for our change?

Anyone else I ask would automatically say that it was because of our apparent 'romance' that my idiotic friends had the whole camp involved in now. I would just say it's because Percy's not as annoying as he was before. But, yet again, that leads my back to the question of 'why?'.

So alright, maybe I do like Percy a tiny bit. I mean, I almost kissed him just a couple minutes ago! Yet I can't forget his annoying cockiness and arrogance that surely couldn't have just disappeared overnight. It makes me wonder briefly about whether or not it was an act, but for the life of me I couldn't understand why Percy would do it.

You know, for a pretty much certified genius, there were an awful lot of things I couldn't figure out lately.

"Warrior Princess!" I hear Thalia shout, and I realize that I'd been standing totally still for the past five minutes. "Quit daydreaming and get your butt up here!"

I roll my eyes and walk back to my friends. "I'm still not forgiving you for pushing Percy into me, Thals."

"It wasn't- oh, who am I kidding, I totally did it on purpose," Thalia smirks.

"Why'd you pull Percy off of Annabeth then if you wanted them together so badly?" Piper questions, arching a brow. "I mean, they almost had lip contact!"

Thalia sighs melodramatically, and I begin to fear for her answer. "Cause I'm an angsty teenager who needs to have a real life couple to obsessively ship and on TV they never get together this easily, so I found it necessary to mirror their actions in a way."

"You're pretending Percy and I are a TV show?" I ask her, flabbergasted.

Thalia shrugs. "Either that or a teenage romance novel."

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

We encounter our first 'monster' two hours later.

Quite obviously, it wasn't actually a monster. It was simply a rustling of the bushes around us that sounds on and on for ages, complete with the occasional grunt and heavy breathing. We stumble away from it quickly, over the path that has seemingly gotten a lot thicker as time progressed. It's rougher than before, with lots of brambles and tree roots.

"This isn't like the forest we hiked through yesterday," Jason pants, pushing his sweaty hair out of his face. "Chiron must have created a 'safe zone' for us to go in, which we've obviously left now."

"Meaning we're on the wrong path," Grover adds in gloomily. I scowl at their pessimism but I have to agree that they're making a good point.

"Guys, shut up," Thalia calls from the front of the group, her blue eyes flickering nervously. "I think I hear something."

That 'something' turns out to be a river that veers to the left and drops into a rumbling waterfall. It's at least fifty feet tall, and so we all stand there, debating the best way to get across without getting swept over the edge. I stare at it, willing my scientific mind to come up with some kind of solution to get to the other side.

"We'll have to loop back," Piper's saying, but her words sound far off. I stare closer at the river, noting the light colour that tells me that it's not all that deep, the pebbles that I can see gathered in the riverbank. Carefully, cautiously, I dip one foot in the water. I can't touch, so I place a bit more of my leg in. Still nothing.

Taking a deep breath, I glance over at the rest of them, seeing how they're all completely lost in conversation. Then, with a grunt, I heave myself into the water.

The effect is instantaneous. Water billows around me, stopping in the middle of my chest. I smile, triumphant. It's shallow enough that we could all walk across. Keeping a hold of the edge, I walk until I'm directly behind the large group of teenagers. "Hey!" I shout, and at once they all whirl around.

Thinking back on it, that probably wasn't the smartest move. Because just then the current begins to swirl faster, and my grip on the side of the river loosens. Water covers my face suddenly, and then I'm underwater, kicking and thrashing to break out of the current. I berate myself for being so stupid not to notice that the river was uneven, meaning that the current would be a lot stronger in some places than others. Hence my apparent drowning.

I just have time to think, _this would be a dumb way to die, _before suddenly I'm hoisted back up to the surface, coughing up more water than I thought possible. The person who pulled me out throws me back on solid ground, and I roll over onto my side, still discharging river water. That is, until I glance upwards and meet the very pissed-off eyes of Percy Jackson.

"Why the hell," he snaps, the fire from this morning's fit returning to his eyes, "would you jump into a freaking river and almost go over a waterfall? Gods Annabeth, are you trying to get yourself killed or something?"

"It was for Science!" I protest, needing to prove my case. "The river's shallow enough for us to wade across, but we'll need to use rope or a branch to keep us from getting swept into the current."

"No duh," Percy sighs, but the anger seems to fade out of his green eyes. "You know, for a Wise Girl, you're becoming increasingly stupid."

"Well, maybe it's from spending all of this time around you, Seaweed Brain," I joke, glad that we've both decided to revert back to our normal banter.

Percy runs a hand through his messy black hair, frowning. "Seriously though, don't do that again. You… you scared me a lot."

I look down, abashed. It feels like our positions have somewhat been reversed, and I don't like it one bit. "I won't."

He nods, and everything seems alright again. But I can sense his anger underneath the surface just like earlier this morning, and I know that Percy's still furious with everything that's gone down today. He's going to blow soon, and I want to be far away from him when he does.

o-o-ac&pj-o-o

The sky begins to cloud over around five-ish, telling us that we should stop hiking and settle down for the night. There's no Chiron-made clearing for us, though, so we're forced to brush aside prickly bushes and hard rocks until we've cleaned a considerable space. Thank the Gods we still have sleeping bags, otherwise it would be torturous.

I'm talking with Piper and Katie, laughing as we watch Thalia reject Nico over and over again, when I notice Percy searching through his backpack furiously. Excusing myself from the conversation, I walk over to him, tapping him on the shoulder.

Percy whirls around, dropping the backpack to the ground. "Hey." He says, looking nervous.

"Hi," I smile back, wondering why talking to him suddenly feels so awkward. "What's the matter? You seem pretty upset."

"Oh, it's nothing," Percy picks back up his backpack, and his phone falls out of the bottom. He curses, bending over to pick it up.

I take advantage of his momentary diversion to glance inside of the bag and see what's got him bothered so much. It's empty, aside from the brown dirt you can see through the large gaping hole through the lining.

Wait a minute… dirt? Gaping hole? And an empty bag…

"Percy," I ask, surprised at how calm my voice sounds. "Where's all of the food and water you took earlier? You know, our _last remaining supplies_?"

He straightens back up and gulps when he sees where my gaze is. "Um… it… um… my bag kinda… ripped and… um… it all fell… out?"

My hands clench into fists as I take a step closer to him, but this time, it's not in a comforting or (dare I say it) romantic way. This is anger, pure fury, that wells up in a wave threatening to engulf me. "You mean to tell me that all of our food and water- the thing that is going to keep us alive long enough to survive- fell out of your backpack and you didn't notice? Is that what you wanted to say? Because please, if you meant something else, speak now before I strangle you to death." The last few words come out as a snarl.

Percy steps away from me, his gaze terrified. "Um… no… I didn't mean anything different… don't hurt me…" He curls up on the ground in a futile attempt to protect himself from my rage.

"Hey what's going on?" Frank comes over and notices my face. "What happened?"

The rest of the group, hearing Frank's question, hurry over to where we stand. Some look amused, some look worried, but the majority look confused. I rip my gaze away from them and back to Percy, who's still cowering in the dirt.

"This idiot lost our food." I snarl, and gasps begin to resound around the clearing. "So now we're going to starve."

"Oh, please," Percy's back on his feet, no longer cowering. Instead, he's staring at me with a strange mix of anger and trepidation in his eyes. "If someone hadn't been so rude to Drew we wouldn't even be in this mess in the first place."

"Well, excuse me, but I'm not the one who decided to dunk Clarisse into a toilet!" I retort, fury blazing inside of me. I don't want to start an argument, but I'm not going to let Percy falsely accuse me of things I didn't do.

"Oh right, because you're too good to do something like that," Percy mocks me. "Little miss perfect, the teacher's pet."

The rest of the campers have begun to back up, looking nervous. I pay no notice to that, however, and instead direct all of my anger towards the idiot in front of me. "Oh yeah, mister I-dump-girls-left-and-right. I'm so sorry that I'm actually going to pass this camp and graduate from high school, while you're going to end up living in some cardboard box."

"Better a cardboard box than being forever alone!" Percy's shouting now. "Who would ever want to date a smart-alec loser with no friends?"

Ouch. That hurt more than I let on. I glare at him, grey eyes flashing. "I have friends, thank you very much. Ones that won't ditch me just because it's the 'cool' thing to do."

"At least I'm not a bossy show-off who always has to be in charge!" Percy snaps. Okay, that hit a nerve.

My hands tremble. "You're such a worthless jackass, you know. No wonder that your father left you."

It's a low blow, I know. But I'm annoyed and tired and fed up, and this argument is quickly becoming an outlet for all of my pent-up emotions. Percy's eyes turn a colour I've never seen before- a dark green, scary and cold. When he speaks next, his voice is shaking with rage.

"Do you even know what you did to me? You made me into some weak sap with morals and principles. You knocked down all of my walls, and made me what I thought would be a better version of myself. But you know what? I was wrong," his voice rises now, into a shout that echoes around the forest. "Annabeth Chase, you're the worst thing that ever happened to me. I always wondered how someone like you ended up here. But now I've got my answer. It's because you're a cold-hearted, selfish bitch."

My vision is beginning to blur, but from the tears that are dripping down my face like mad or my increasing temper, I do not know. "Do you want to know why I really was sent to this camp?" I shout, my voice trembling. "It's because I was too bossy. Too much of a leader and a freak. So now are you happy? That's what you wanted to know, wasn't it? Gods, you're a jerk, Percy, an egotistical, selfish, arrogant jerk."

And that's when the cloudy sky, which had gradually grown darker as our argument progressed, chooses to burst open, spewing torrents of rain down on all of us. As everyone else who had been standing and watching our argument in shock dashes off to cover, I dash off into the woods. Lightning shoots across the sky, but I still persevere, ducking my head to battle the growing storm. I'm leaving this place, this whole stupid camp, and going back home. I don't care how long it takes.

Voices begin to sound behind me, but they're far off in the distance- my friends calling out for me. I run faster, ignoring them. They'll give up eventually. In the meantime, I'm invincible. Nothing and no one will stop me.

That is, until I hear the scream echo through the woods, way closer than the rest of the voices. It's full of pain and fear, and evidently very masculine. I skid to a stop, whirling around. Only one person I know sounds like that.

Percy.

* * *

**#clichechapterendings FTW!**

**Yes, I know this chapter was rather stupid and OOC. I just needed to get this over with so I could move onto more better, exciting things. I suck at writing arguments as well, so sorry about that.**

**On the topic of moving on, this story is now more than halfway done. I think the finished thing will be 20 chapters, tops. Don't forget, the camp is only ten days... and we're on day 7 (?) right now, so...**

**The next chapter is going to be a fun one, I can tell... so stay tuned for that- I will get it out probably right before HoH comes out! Possibly a bit sooner now that I'm back on my laptop, but I really don't know.**

**Reviews are awesome and greatly appreciated!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**-Jace ;)**

**PS: I am looking for PM buddies that are willing to put up with me ranting about school, life, books, and the arrogant douchebag mentioned at the top! I will gladly let you rant back to me and I'll help you with any problems you may have as well. If you're interested, just send me a PM! **

**PPS: Review Question- What books are you excited about that are being released this fall? I'm excited about HoH (obviously), United We Spy (comes out on Tuesday! So excited!), The Last Present (final book in an amazing series called Willow Falls by Wendy Mass), and Allegiant (Divergent trilogy). **


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